


Tangled Destinies

by vintagemisery49



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe, F/F, Fluff and Angst, Tangled AU, also hagger is mother if that isn't clear, the rest of the voltron crew has mini cameos, there is some slight cursing, this was inspired by some nice art
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-02
Updated: 2017-12-21
Packaged: 2018-12-23 00:12:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 16
Words: 34,550
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11978037
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/vintagemisery49/pseuds/vintagemisery49
Summary: Nyma's a thief that just wants to keep her promise, she didn't plan on getting caught up in Allura's find herself journey. But here she is, getting dragged alone as a guide so this girl can go see the floating lights and she can get the crown back. Tangled AU





	1. The Heist

Nyma tightened the rope around her waist one last time before turning to Rolo and Beezer. “I’m ready,” she said, hands on her hips as she watched Rolo carefully open up the skylight to the crown room.

“Hold on for a second,” Rolo hissed as he steadied the window before looking down into the room.

Nyma stoop on her tiptoes and peeked over his shoulder. She could vaguely see the glint of what could only be the crown that had once belonged to the last princess as well as a pair of guards standing in front of it.

“Okay,” Rolo said, spinning around and facing her. “Me and Beezer,” Rolo pointed to their companion, “Will lower you down over top of the crown, you snatch it and we’ll pull you back up. Then we make a getaway, sell the crown and split it.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Nyma said as she took one last look at the view from their top up on the tower. “You know, I think I’m going to use my money to buy myself a castle. I’ve always been a castle kind of person.” 

“That’s great, now come over here, the faster we do this the faster you can get your castle,” Rolo said, annoyance in his voice but Nyma chose to ignore it. No use in letting some negativity get to her, she was about to be filthy stinking rich.

Rolo and Beezer lowered her down until she was a few mere inches away from the crown. The guards hadn’t noticed her yet so while keeping one eye on them she plucked the crown from off the pedestal and when no alarm went off she tugged the rope.

She was about halfway back up when a guard sneezed and despite her whole thief occupation Nyma did have manners.

“Bless you,” she said with a smirk as she reached the top.

“Thanks,” the guard muttered before looking around widely, by the time he was looking up at the skylight Nyma had already slipped out the window and the rope.

She saw the guards face distort into fear then angry as she gave him a quick wave before she started running off down the roof with Rolo and Beezer right on her heels.

“Why are you so stupid?!” Rolo cried as they hoped from one roof to another. Nyma could faintly hear the guards shouting out orders.

“What can I say,” Nyma said with a shrug before she slid down the side of a roof. “I have some manners.”

“You’re a bloody thief,” Rolo cried as they landed on the wall surrounding the castle.

“A bloody thief with manners,” Nyma said as she jumped down onto the ground, “With a crown.”

“Come on let’s go,” Rolo yelled. “We don’t need them catching us.”

Nyma could already hear the gate to the castle raising and the shouts of the guards. “Okay.”

So off they ran right into the forest that was on the outskirts of the town. Nyma weaved between the trees, feeling her bag hit against her side with each step she took. Leaping over a log she spotted a wanted poster, specifically her own.

“Oh my god,” Nyma said, sliding to a halt in front of it as she ripped the poster off the tree.

“What the heck are you doing? We’re kinda running for our lives right now!” Rolo wheezed as he slid to a stop a few feet in front of her.

“But Rolo,” she cried, turning to face him and showing him the poster. “They always get my nose wrong! And they can’t even draw my hair right I mean look at this does it look like I have-“

“Nyma, we can worry about this some other time come on!” Rolo cried as the sounds of the guards grew louder.

“Ugh fine,” Nyma said as she shoved the poster into her bag. Rolo never had to worry about them getting his poster wrong.

The guards had to be close; Nyma could hear the thundering hooves of the horses and their shouts. However fate had deiced not to look out for them as they ran into a dead end, a cliff to be exact. 

“I can’t believe this!” Rolo cried as he looked up at the top. In Nyma’s opinion it could be worst so she decided to voice this.

“It’s not that tall, if we formed a human ladder we could get up.”

“The guards are literally right on top of us, we don’t have time,” Rolo cried as he shook his hands at the cliff.

“Give me boost Beezer,” Nyma said as she reached her hands up the side of the cliff. “And then I’ll help you guys up.”

Beezer, being the dear he was headed over to her and was already offering her his hand to jump on when Rolo held his hand out.

“Nuh uh, give us the bag first and then we’ll boost you up.”

“Wha-I can’t believe that after everything we’ve been through that you don’t trust me,” Nyma said, placing her hand over her heart and giving the two of them a look that she hoped just screamed betrayal.

Rolo stared back at her unfazed, Beezer looked between the two of them awkwardly like he couldn’t decide what to think.

“Fine,” Nyma said as she pulled the bag off of her and handed it to Rolo who snatched it from her hand and gave her a searing look.

Rolo stood on Beezer’s shoulders and Nyma climbed up their backs as fast as she could. 

She could hear the guards getting closer and she knew they’d be there any second so when she reached Rolo she slipped her hand carefully through the strap of the bag from where it hung on his hip and pulled it up along with her. She needed that money more than they did, she had made promises and she needed the money to keep them, she couldn’t have these two take some of it away because they wanted to splurge on alcohol and fancy houses. 

“Now help us up,” Rolo said, holding out his hand as she hopped onto the ledge.

“Sorry boys,” Nyma said as she saw the guards come into view, “But my hands are kinda full.” She flourished the retrieved bag before running off.

She could hear Rolo’s cries of betrayal as she sprinted off but barely thought twice on it. She did feel kinda bad leaving Beezer like that, he was a pretty decent guy, but also a pretty decent guys that wanted the money that she needed so there was no use feeling bad.

She could hear someone yelling to follow after her but brushed it off as she slid down a hill and narrowly missed falling into a large gorge. Looking down she could see a fast running river that ran at the bottom. There might be a bridge somewhere if she looked, she certainly couldn’t jump it that was for sure.

Nyma considered her options when she realized that the sounds off hooves weren’t as far off as they had been before, the guards were close and she didn’t have any plans on getting caught.

Looking down she tried to judge how far down it was when she heard crashing foliage and someone yelling, “There she is!”

Nyma decided now was the time to take a leap so she did, right down into the gorge. 

It felt like she was falling forever but it gave her time to think over her life choices and maybe wonder if maybe she should’ve chosen more honest work to earn money rather than a job that risked her life. 

She hit the water with a loud splash, but she broke the surface and took a deep breath of air before letting the current carry her downstream. 

Screw honest work, she had a damn crown, who needed a nine to five job if she was about to be rich from something that only took her a few minutes to get.

She eventually swam over to the shore after the river left the gorge. Pulling herself out of the water she checked on the crown and let out a deep breath to see that it was still there, albeit a little wet.

Throwing herself to the ground with a squishy thump she examined the glittery crown. She had never held something so expensive and pretty in her life. She humored herself for a second and put the crown on her head. Every girl dreamed of being a princess right? 

She looked at her reflection and almost laughed at herself, she looked absolutely ridiculous. 

“Maybe start off with some cuter clothes first,” she said to herself with a chuckle as she slipped the crown back into her bag.

She picked at her wet pants before letting out a sigh and pulling off her boots, she dumped the water out of them. She stripped off her vest and looked at the sky that looked like it was on fire thanks to night coming in.

It looked like she’d be camping out for the night. Picking up her stuff and dragging it over to a cave she had seen when she had first dragged herself to shore, she began to consider her game plan.

Nyma unbuttoned her shirt and almost took it off before considering that she needed to get away fast if the guards found her during the night. She didn’t need to worry about finding her shirt while scrambling to get away.

Letting her back hit the cool wall she closed her eyes and clutched her bag close to her chest. She’d worry about finding her way back to her hometown the next morning, for now she was going to get some sleep.


	2. The Request

“Hmmm,” Allura said as she paused by the window, tapping her chin as she pretend to look on the windowsill for her hiding friend. “Well,” she said with a huff as she pretended to give up, she knew for a fact though that Coran was trying to blend in with the pots but he always forgot to close his eyes which gave him away, “I guess Coran’s not hiding here.”

She shrugged her shoulders and made a move to start looking elsewhere and out of the corner of her eye she saw a small head stick around the corner of the pot. Aha, she got him.

“Found you,” she cooed as she picked him up by his tail and dropped him into her hand. “That’s twenty for me, do you want to try and challenge me again?”

Coran shot her a look that said the he had only let her win but she rolled her eyes at that.

“Well you seem to let me win an awful lot,” she said as she sat him down on the windowsill. “What do you wanna do then?”

Coran pointed his tail to the ground below them.

Allura looked down at the beautiful green grass and all the trees and couldn’t help but let out a dreamy sigh before quickly catching herself.

“Oh no, we are not going outside,” Allura said, shaking her head and walking away from the window. “I like it in here, and plus the outside world is such a scary place, Mother tells me all the horrible things that she sees when she has to leave to get us supplies.”

Coran gave her a look that screamed that he knew she didn’t believe those stories anymore.

Allura bit her lip. It was tempting, the thought of leaving this stuffy tower. In all her seventeen years she had never been allowed to leave, her mother always claiming that the world would rip her to shreds. But Allura had long ago begun to question these stories when mother always came back from her trips perfectly fine. But no, she couldn’t go against Mother!

“It’s not so bad in here Coran,” Allura said as she went over to the small kitchen and checked on her pie. This one didn’t look burned yet, just a few more minutes and it should be that perfect golden brown that she always had trouble trying to get.

“Besides, I have a plan this year,” she said as she picked up her broom with a hum. “I’m going to ask Mother if I can go see the floating lights for my birthday.”

Coran gave her a look that told her that he agreed whole heartedly with this plan.

“I’m turning eighteen this year, that means I’m an adult,” Allura said as she began to sweep up the floors, Coran going over and pulling out the dust pan for her to brush into. “I’m sure Mother will agree that it’s time for me to go out into the world and see it for myself.”

Coran nodded as she swept the dirt from the floor into the pan, there was never much considering that she swept the floors about four times a day in her boredom.

The lights came out every year on her birthday. Allura had spent many of the past birthdays staring out the window and watching as the floating lights filled the sky.

Placing the broom back in its spot she whisked over to the oven and pulled the pie out of the oven. Success, it was the perfect crispness.

Setting it out on the table to cool she went through the rest of her chores, dusting, mopping the floors, doing the laundry and making her bed.

Letting out a huff she looked at the clock and almost let out a loud groan when she saw that she hadn’t even lost an hour after doing all of that.

She grabbed a book that Mother had brought home with her last time and flopped down on the floor and began to flip through it for the fourth time. It was some book about some flowering vine native to the area. The entire book was incredibly boring with all the large words that Allura wasn’t sure how to pronounce and it talked an awful lot about dirt, but it was something to do. For a whole twenty minutes before she got bored of trying to re-read it.

“Ugh,” Allura said, throwing the book to the floor and letting her head fall back. “I’m so bored!!”

Coran hopped up into her lap and gave her the look that said I told you so.

“I’m bored of the book,” Allura sniffed, crossing her arms and pretending that she didn’t want nothing more than to jump out of the window and into the world.

Pushing herself off the ground, she headed over to where she kept her paint. Looking around the room she found an empty spot among all the paintings that were splattered all over the walls. Grabbing a few brushes and putting the paint she needed on a palette.

Choosing to ignore Coran’s insistent tugs on her dress to go to the window, she climbed up to the empty spot and began to paint. She never had any real ideas when she did, except for the one time she spent a painstakingly long time figuring out how to create the floating lights mural that she was so proud of. But now she was painting anything that came to her mind which ended up being an animal she had seen in one of her books before, they called it a horse which Allura thought was a rather odd name. But none the less she painted it doing what she thought sounded best for it, swimming which was something she couldn’t wait to do once mother let her outside.

She was put the finishing touches on her horse, which she decided to name Platt, when she heard Mother call her from outside the window.

“Allura,” Mother trilled, “Let down your hair.”

Allura jumped from her perch and ran to the window, throwing her long locks out the window. She had once asked mother if she could cut it, it got dirty and knotted so easily, and it was so heavy and hot on some days. Mother had quickly refused, telling her a story of how some greedy person had tried to cut off her hair so they could have its healing benefits all to their self. But when they did her hair changed color and it lost all its power and according to Mother her power was important and not something that she should give up.

Coran gave her an encouraging look before going off and hiding so Mother wouldn’t see him.

Allura could feel Mother climbing up her hair and helped her in through the window once she reached the top.

“Why hello my dear,” Mother said as she ran a hand through Allura’s hair. “You’re looking well. Was everything fine while I was gone?”

“Yes Mother,” Allura said as she watched mother throw back the hood of her cape to show her that her normally blue hair was starting to be tinged with white. Soon she’d want Allura’s help in returning it to its normal beauty, though Mother always was a bit more tense when her hair started to change its color.

“That’s nice,” Mother said as she put her bag on the table and began to unpack it, taking out mainly food but also a few plants as well that she would use for potions and such.

“Um, Mother I was wondering-“

“But I must say it took you quiet a long time to throw your hair out the window today, don’t you do this often?”

“Um, well yes-“ Allura began before Mother cut her off.

“Well you should be faster at it then.” 

Allura bit her tongue and tried to quell the anger that was rising in her chest at that comment. If she snapped at Mother there was no way she was going to be able to go outside. “I’m terribly sorry mother, I must’ve been a bit distracted since tomorrow-“

“Allura dear I’m feeling terribly worn down, would you sing for me dear?” Mother asked, running a hand through her hair causing some of it to fall out of the tight bun on her head.

Allura clenched her hands by her side. “Of course Mother.” She sat down by the chair and Mother sat down in the chair with a brush in hand.

Allura waited a few seconds for the brush to start running through her hair before she began to sing, she decided that she needed to get this over quickly if she wanted to ask Mother before she lost her courage.

“Flower, gleam and glow, let your power shine, make the clock reverse, bring back what once was mine,” Allura began to sing as speedily as possible while still not jumbling her words.

“Wait,” Mother said but Allura ignored her.

"Heal what has been hurt, change the fate’s design-“ she could feel the comb running through her hair faster than usual, “Save what has been lost, bring back what once was mine.”

“Allura!” Mother yelled as Allura jumped up from her spot and whirled around.

“So as I was saying Mother, tomorrow is my birthday and I was hoping-“

“But your birthday was last year dear,” Mother hummed as she stood up and put the brush back into a basket, her hair was free of the white now and she looked less weary. 

“Well birthdays are kinda, every year,” Allura said as she followed after Mother, tugging at her hands, “And this year I’m turning eighteen so I was hoping that you would let me-that you would let me-“

“Allura stop stuttering, just get to the point you know I hate nervousness, but I love you dear, I’m just teasing,” Mother said as she began to sort through the food she had set on the table. “Just spit out whatever it is you want to say.”

“I want to see the floating lights for my birthday,” Allura said, just getting it out there and holding her breath waiting for Mother’s reaction.

“Uh, what?” Mother asked, whirling around to face Allura.

“I want to see the floating lights, they’re always out on birthday, every year and I know they’re not starts I checked it myself against star charts and oh Mother there’s nothing more I want, I feel like they’re meant for me-“

“What a ridiculous and self-centered thing to thing Allura,” Mother chided as she took a step closer to Allura who couldn’t help but feel like Mother was looming over her. “I raised you better than this.”

“But Mother please-“

“No, the answer is no,” Mother said, shaking her head and putting her foot. “I would never allow you to go out there; the world is such a terrible place.”

“You’re always telling me that Mother but I’ve never seen it-“ Allura began before mother cut her off again and pressed her hands to Allura’s cheeks, caging her in.

“Allura, you’re such a fragile flower, I could never let you go out there because I know what would happen,” Mother cooed. “The people are horrible, they’d hurt you if they ever saw a chance and you’re such a trusting girl so they would take advantage of that. I know you want to leave the nest but you’re still so young-“

“I know Mother but I think it be best if-“ Allura began before Mother put a hand over her mouth.

“There are all kinds of horrors outside of this tower, savage animals, quicksand, poison ivy, and illnesses! You’d never be able to survive out there; you’re too soft, sloppy, immature, gullible, ditzy and clumsy, why you’d probably hurt yourself!” Mother said, the long list of things she said about her made Allura’s blood burn but at the same time it started to scare her. What if Mother was right? What if she wasn’t ready to go outside the tower?

“Mother-“ Allura tried to say through Mother’s hand only for it to come out muffled.

“Darling I’m just telling you this because I love you,” Mother said, taking her hands off Allura’s face and placed them on her shoulders again. “And I only ask one thing from you.”

Allura was hesitant but took the bait. “What is it?”

“Never ask to leave this tower again,” Mother said, her voice turning cold as she ran her hand through Allura’s hair.

“Y-yes Mother,” Allura said, giving up as Mother pulled her into a hug. The world did sound scary when Mother described it, and if she really thought that Allura couldn’t make it well then she supposed Mother was right. But still, Allura wanted to see the lights so badly.

“Good girl,” Mother said, patting her on the head. “I love you very much.”

“I love you too Mother,” Allura said doing her best to hide her disappointment. Another year watching the lights from the tower she supposed.


	3. The Chase

Nyma awoke to the sound of hooves and voices. 

“Crap, crap, crap,” she muttered, checking to make sure her bag was still untouched in her lap. Buttoning her now dry shirt back up, she slipped on her vest before taking a quick peak outside the cave. 

She couldn’t see anyone but she could hear them which meant she needed to get out of here right now. Slipping the bag over her shoulder she creeped to the edge of the cave and peeked out around the sides just to make sure she couldn’t see them.

When Nyma saw that the coast was clear she darted out of the cave and headed for the forest. She should’ve known that they would’ve kept looking for her, but she had hoped they would’ve camped out for the night. Though it was kinda bright out, so it might not be as early in the morning as she originally thought.

Weaving between the trees she tried to come up with her next plan, but was cut off by a very rude guard yelling at her.

“Halt thief!”

Nyma spared him a glance and then kinda wished she hadn’t. She was being chased by Takashi Shiro, captain of the royal guard and also maybe had a grudge against her for something she did a few years ago so she really didn’t have time to tease him like she had originally planned.

Jumping over a log she tried to search for something familiar. This forest had to be near her hometown. She had practically grown up in the woods around town so if she was where she thought she was she should be able to find a way to outsmart Shiro.

She could hear them getting closer so she took a sharp left turn before going off sprinting, weaving between as many trees as possible to throw them off her.

However it didn’t seem to deter the two as they kept getting closer and closer to her. Nyma could practically feel the horse’s breath on her neck, but she couldn’t get caught, not now, not yet.

Though it seemed the world was looking out for her for once when she saw a large tree branch blocking the path up ahead, the perfect place to stall a man on a horse.

She sped up before sliding under the branch, sending a smirk back at Shiro. He was going to have to go around to get to her and by then she’d be gone.

There was only one problem though; the horse wasn’t stopping despite its rider best efforts in trying to stop it. Maybe this hadn’t been a good idea.

Pushing herself back off the grown she went off running, sparing a glance behind her when she heard a loud thump and the rustling of leaves. Shiro had jumped off his horse, or had been knocked off of it by the branch; however, the horse was still in hot pursuit of Nyma.

“Today is just not my day!” she cried before trying to pick up speed. Her thighs and lungs burned and she wanted nothing more to than to stop and take a break and maybe drink half a gallon of water while she was at it. But she kept on going. 

She couldn’t actually believe that a horse was following her. She had heard Shiro call after it, it had a weird name. Voltron, she thinks is what he had yelled but she wasn’t sure nor did she really care considering this horse seemed intent on running her down.

She rounded a corner and she saw it, her escape. At first glance it looked like a bunch of vines growing on the side of mountain but Nyma’s well trained eyes noticed how air seemed to travel right through them, so she took a chance and rain straight through them, and into the most beautiful place she had ever seen.

Nyma had to pause to catch her breath anyway and listen out for the horse so she also took the time to admire her surroundings.

The grass was the brightest green she had ever seen and the glade seemed to be filled with all kinds of flowers and bushes. There was a stream running through it that must come from one of the mountains that closed in this little paradise. It looked like something right out of a fairy tale, and right smack dab in the middle was a tower.

Its blocks were weathered and chipping, ivy and vines grew up the side and it looked completely unkempt.

“Perfect,” Nyma huffed as she pushed herself off the ground from where she had collapsed when she had first entered the glade.

She couldn’t hear any signs of the horse so she must’ve shaken it. She walked up to the castle and rubbed her hands together. Maybe she could live here after she got her money, or at least until things quieted down and she could sell the crown on the black market.

Tugging on one of the vines she found that it was strong enough to hold her weight so she began to scale up the side of the tower. She almost slipped once or twice when she lost her grip on a vine or when her foot slipped up. But she reached the top and lucky for her the window was open. 

She jumped from the ivy to the windowsill, gripping the wood tightly as she pulled herself up and swung her legs inside.

Hoping down off the window she let out a sigh and said, “Alone at last.”

The next few seconds happened quickly. First she realized that this tower didn’t look as abounded as she had thought from the outside. Then she felt a searing pain on the back of her head and then everything went dark.


	4. The Decision

“Oh no!” Allura cried as the frying pan that she had used as her weapon dropped to the floor with a loud bang. She slapped her hand over her mouth and looked up the stairs to see if she had woken up Mother, and when she realized she hadn’t she looked down at the person lying face down at her feet with a grimace.

Allura touched them with her foot before reeling back waiting for a reaction. When she got none she looked over at Coran for advice. He simply did the look that was the epitome of a shrug.

“Coran please, I need help,” Allura hissed as she knelt down by the person. It had to be a girl, right? She had never seen a male with such long hair before in her books but perhaps those books were outdated. “I think I might’ve killed them.”

She rolled the person onto their back and stared down at them. She poked at the person’s cheek and stared down at them with pursed lips. She picked up a strand of their hair before letting it fall back to the floor.

She glanced back at Coran for advice but it seemed like he was giving none. 

Allura forced open the person’s eyelid and stared down into brown eyes. Letting the person’s eye close she tapped at her chin as she tried to figure out what to do. If they were dead Allura was going to have to find some way to hide the body and if they were alive she’d still have to find somewhere to hide the body.

Picking them up from underneath their armpits Allura dragged them over the wardrobe. Throwing the doors open she pick the intruder back up and tried to fit them into the small space, thought they kept falling back out. They weren’t as flexible as Allura had hoped.

With a determined pout, Allura grabbed a chair and shoved the intruder into the wardrobe with one sharp push and closed the doors behind her. She quickly shoved the chair underneath the handles before it could burst open again.

With a satisfied nod she placed her hands on her hips and called it all a job well done. This was now a problem for future Allura.

But look at her! She had just defended herself! Take that Mother, she could totally make it out in the real world. 

Allura pumped her fist victoriously in the air before she noticed a bag on the floor. Creeping over to it she crouched down and opened it up. There were a few odds and ends inside as well as a crumpled piece of paper and-wow what was that?!

Allura pulled out the glittering object. It was circular and decorated with a purple jewel. It looked like a bracelet so she slipped it on her wrist, thought it was incredibly big. It would just slip off if she dropped her arm to her side.

Looking over for Coran for help he shook his head at her. 

Taking it off her wrist she inspected it further. It had to be used for jewelry of some sort, but it must be for something bigger than her wrist, maybe it was supposed to be a necklace! She went to go place it over her head only for it to stop on top of her head.

Pausing for a second in confusion she turned and looked at her reflection in the mirror. This just had to be what it was for, it just looked so right.

Turning back to Coran he nodded his head at her now. Yes, she must have it right now!

Allura was about to look through the contents of the bag further when she heard movement upstairs. Mother must be awake.

Shoving the jewelry back into the bag she hid it behind her back as Mother began to come down the stairs.

“Allura,” she said as she stopped at the bottom of the stairs, “I forgot that I had a surprise.”

“Oh, I, uh, have a surprise too,” Allura said as she tightened her grip on the bag. She needed to tell Mother about the person in the closet, and how she had bravely defended herself.

“Well I bet my surprise is bigger,” Mother trilled as she moved over to where she had left her bag.

“I highly doubt that,” Allura muttered under her breath before turning her attention back to mother when she flourished something that she had pulled out of the bag.

“I got us some parsnips while I was out. I’m going to make your favorite, hazelnut soup!”

“Well I have something I want-“

"Allura I’m sorry that I just walked off from out fight earlier but I hate it when I’ve just done nothing wrong,” Mother said as she made her way over to Allura.

“Um, okay, but I was thinking about what you said earlier and-“

“This isn’t about the stars again is it dear?” Mother said with a huff as she placed her hand on her forehead. “I thought we agreed to drop the whole matter.”

“I know, but I think I’m strong enough to-“

“Allura darling please, you are not strong enough to handle yourself outside we’ve talked about this,” Mother said, her voice getting louder as she began to rub her forehead like she had a grating headache.

“If you would just-“ Allura began, holding her hands out only for Mother to cut her off again.

“Allura, we are done talking about this.”

“Trust me I know-“

“Allura,” Mother said, her tone a low growl as she took a step close to Allura.

“I know what I’m saying-“

“Shut up about the lights Allura! You are never leaving this tower ever! That is end of discussion!” Mother cried and Allura took a step back from her. Mother was practically looming over top of her and her face was red in anger. She looked…really scary.

“Great, now I look like the bad guy,” Mother muttered as she rubbed at her temple.

Allura needed to come up with something quick if she was wanted to go see the lights, and when she looked back at the wardrobe and remembered that there was conveniently a person who knew the outside world in there she came up with her plan on the spot.

“All I was going to say Mother is that I know what I want for my birthday, new paint, the kind that I made from the white shells you got for me,” Allura said as her idea raced through her head and the adrenaline from trying to trick Mother caused her hands to shake.

“Allura, that is a three day journey,” Mother said, looking up at her from under her hand.

“I know it’s just…,” Allura paused and looked around the room for effect, “I thought it would be better than stars.”

Mother sighed. “Are you sure you’ll be alright on your own?”

“I’m safe as long as I’m here,” Allura said, repeating the same thing Mother had been telling her for years.

“Then I’m off,” Mother said, kissing Allura on the cheek. “I’ll be back in three days’ time I love you dear.”

“I love you two Mother,” Allura said as she watched Mother climb out the window.

She waited until Mother was out of the glade before she turned back to the wardrobe. “Well Coran, time to put my plan to action.”


	5. The Fated Meeting

All Nyma could see was black, and then suddenly she could see again. Grumbling she tried to move only to find that she was unable to. 

Jerking her head around she saw that she was still in the same tower she had climbed in earlier, however there was one big difference. She was tied to a chair in the center of the room; with what she thought was….hair? Was it also what was draped all over the room, hair?

“Oh my god,” Nyma muttered to herself as she looked widely around the room for whoever all this hair belonged too. She tried to free herself from the chair only to be cut off by a voice, and not just a normal voice, but one that had to belong to an angel. 

“Struggling is pointless, you won’t be able to break free.” Okay maybe they weren’t saying the cutest things but still, Nyma didn’t doubt that the owner of this voice was pretty. Maybe getting knocked out in this tower would turn out to be in Nyma’s favor.

“And who says so?” Nyma asked, a smile forming on her face. She didn’t know what kind of girl lived in a tower but she was ready to meet her.

“I know why you’re here, and I’m not afraid of you.” Okay maybe this girl wasn’t looking for romance, Nyma was beginning to think that maybe she should start becoming more concerned with finding a way out.

“Ummm, what?”

A girl emerged from the shadows a few feet in front of her and oh man Nyma had been so wrong. She wasn’t pretty, this girl was drop dead gorgeous. The white hair kinda threw her through a loop for a second but the girl looked to be around the same age as her. Too bad she didn’t seem like she wanted to be friends.

“Who are you and how did you find me here?” the girl demanded taking another step forward, closer to Nyma. There was some kind of lizard or something sitting on the girl’s shoulder giving her the death glare which was also kinda throwing her through bit of a loop.

“Uh well, I wasn’t exactly looking for you per say,” Nyma said, holding her hands up as best as she could despite the hair restraints. “You could say I stumbled across this place.”

“Uh huh,” the girl said, looking her up and down, her face showing how much she didn’t believe Nyma.

“But let me just say,” Nyma said, pausing for a second to put on what she knew was a dashing smile that could send boys and girls alike swooning for her, “Hey, how ya doing? I’m Nyma.”

“Who else knows where I am Nyma?” the girls asked, brandishing a frying pan out in front of her like a weapon. Apparently the smile hadn’t worked on her, time to change tactics.

“Okay, listen here princess-“

“Allura,” the girl said, cutting her off. “My name is Allura.”

Damn she even had a cute name. Too bad this girl seemed out to get her. “Well you see princess I was walking through the woods, doing my thing, minding my own business when I just so happened to stumble upon your hidden tower. I needed a place to stay and since this place looked abandoned I just came on in. I’m sorry; I’ll leave you to whatever it was you were doing before.”

“I can’t let you leave,” Allura said, placing a hand on her hip but kept holding that pan out in front of her, but hey wait, what was this girl talking about?

“And uh, why can’t you?” Nyma asked, what did this girl want her for-wait it wasn’t going to be for weird-

“Because I have your bag,” Allura declared and oh no, now this girl certainly was no longer that cute if she was going to be pulling things like this.

“What did you do with it?!” Nyma cried, now she really needed to get out of this hair.

“I hid it where you will never find it,” Allura said, crossing her arms proudly.

Nyma did a quick survey and noticed something that stood out. She turned to Allura with a smirk. “It’s in the pot isn’t it?”

Her vision went dark again but this time it was because that lizard jumped onto her eyes and blinded her. 

“What the heck?!” Nyma screeched as she felt it skitter across her face and just stand on her face. Oh no she was not about this and she couldn’t do anything about this. That was it, she was out of this place as fast as she could get her bag. 

“Coran,” Allura called and the lizard ran off her face and back onto Allura’s shoulder who was once again standing in front of her looking quite proud. “Now I’ve hidden it where you won’t ever find it.”

This was starting to feel like playing a game with a kid.

“Now, tell me what you want my hair for? Do you want to cut it? Sell it?”

What was she talking about? Nyma shook her head and looked up at Allura. “The only thing I want to do with your hair is get out of it. I don’t want it! I just want my bag!”

“Wait, why don’t you want my hair?” Allura asked like this was the most normal thing in the world.

Nyma was beginning to wonder if all of this was just some crazy dream. “What on earth would I want with your hair? Look princess, I was being chased, I saw your tower, I climbed up it and then you knocked me up and stuffed me in what? A closet? I mean I’ve been in there before but it was more a figurative sense than-“

“You’re-you’re telling the truth?” Allura asked, lowering her pan and putting in on the table. At least Nyma didn’t have to worry about getting knocked out now.

“Yes,” Nyma said, her head falling back against the chair. She just wanted to leave. “So can you let me go? I’ll leave and never tell anyone about you.” 

Allura shared a look with the lizard, though she had called it something earlier, Corn? “I know I need someone to take me,” she whispered and oh no was she talking to the lizard. Though Nyma supposed this is what happened if you lived up in a tower all alone.

“Well she doesn’t have fangs or anything scary.” How does she know that?

“Okay, okay, you’re right,” Allura said before turning back to Nyma. “I’m going to offer you a deal.”

“Does it include you letting me go and giving me my bag back?”

“It does if you know what these are,” Allura said as she moved the chair around so that it was facing a whole bunch of paintings.

Nyma could admit they looked very nice but she wasn’t sure what Allura was getting at.

“Do you know what those are?” Allura asked, pointing to a painting that Nyma was sure had to be the ceremony of the lanterns that would be happening tomorrow.

“Uh yeah, that’s the lantern thing they do for the princess,” Nyma said with a shrug. She had never been too interested in it, and now that she had the princess’s crown she was a whole lot less interested in going. “What about it?”

“I knew they weren’t stars,” Allura said, a wide grin splitting across her face. “Well tomorrow they’re going to send the lanterns into the sky. You are going to be my guide and take me to see them, and then get me home safely.”

Wait, what? This girl had tied her to a chair to ask her to take her to see the lanterns? But wait a second, there was no way Nyma could go back into the town; the guards would be on top of her in a second. On the other hand though this girl did have the crown hidden somewhere which was something that she needed, but Nyma could take this girl easily if she got out of her hair.

“I’m not hearing an answer,” Allura hummed as she began to pace back and forth.

“Uh yeah, I’m gonna have to go with a hard pass,” Nyma said, waving her hand at the pout that was beginning to form on Allura’s face. “The kingdom and I aren’t exactly on good terms right now. So you need to find someone else to tie into a chair and ask to be your guide.”

Allura crossed her arms and made her way over so that she was standing right in front of Nyma. She leaned over and looked Nyma dead in the eye with determination written all over her face, geez this girl really wanted to go see the lanterns.

“Something brought you here Nyma, call it fate, destiny-“

“I remember it being a horse-“

“But I’m taking it as a reason to trust you.”

Nyma considered this; technically she was a felon with multiple accounts of theft and robbery so not the most trustworthy of people. “A horrible decision if you think about it.”

“Well trust me when I tell you this,” Allura said, knocking the chair over and sending to the floor with a thud. Man this chair was starting to hurt her back, not to mention princess over there almost knocked her out when she threw the chair to the ground. “You could tear this tower apart brick by brick and wouldn’t be able to find your bag without my help. And for some reason you really want that bag-“

“Well it does hold all of my personal possessions,” Nyma pointed out but it fell on deaf ears.

“So if you want any chance of getting it back you need to help me out,” Allura said. 

“Uh huh, so let me see, you need me to take you to see the lanterns and then bring you back here to get my satchel back?”

Allura nodded, her cheerful perkiness coming right back. Man she was a whole lot different compared to most of the people she hung out with. “I promise.”

Nyma raised her brow at this. She wasn’t exactly used to having promises kept, especially since she broke about half of her’s. But at the same time she could understand the whole concept considering this whole steal the crown had been done to keep an old promise. Which meant she was going to have to help this crazy tower girl see the lanterns so she could get it back.

There was one more thing she could try and get out of this whole situation, thought Nyma wasn’t too sure how this girl would react though but she could always try.

“All right,” Nyma said, she could see how Allura perked up at this, looking about ready to jump for joy that she got Nyma to be her guide, but Nyma wasn’t done. “I didn’t want to have to do this, but you leave me no choice.”

Allura quirked her brow up at that, and the smile that had been on her face dropped slightly. “What-“

“Here comes, the smoulder,” Nyma said, tilting her head to the side, gazing up at Allura from under her lashes and putting on her most flirtatious smile that she knew made people weak at the knees.

However Allura was very much unaffected. “Wha-what is that you’re doing with you face?” Allura asked, her face clouded with confusion as she stared down Nyma. “Are you feeling alright? Oh no did I hit you too hard on the head?!”

“This is-uh-this is a really off day for me,” Nyma muttered as she dropped her look. It was definitely beginning to look like she had no other choice than to take this girl to see the lights. She looked up to seeing Allura staring down at her like she expected something and okay maybe Nyma was becoming a little bit soft but, “Fine, I’ll take you to see the lanterns.”

“Really?” Allura said before beginning to bounce with joy. “Oh thank you, thank you, thank you!”

“I really appreciate the excitement but could you maybe get me out of your hair?”

“Oh of course,” Allura said before going over to her and beginning to unwrap her hair from Nyma.

“Just think princess, the faster you get me out of your hair the faster you can see your lanterns.”


	6. First Time Outside

“You coming princess?” Nyma called down from the ground.

Allura looked down at Nyma from her perch on the windowsill; it looked like a long way down. Wringing her hands she mumbled to herself, “Come on Allura, you can do this. You’ve been waiting to go outside for years, and now the opportunity is right in front of you.”

Coran gave her a look before pointing down at the ground.

“Yeah, yeah, I can do this,” Allura said, taking a deep breath and standing up straight, steeling her nerves. She counted to ten before she jumped, squeezing her eyes shut as she slid down her hair before coming to a stop a few inches above the ground.

“Good job princess,” Nyma said, crossing her arms and smiling up at her. Allura wasn’t sure if Nyma was teasing her, she also didn’t get why she was calling her princess but it sounded like it was supposed to be nice. “Are you gonna put your feet on the ground so we can head out or?”

Allura looked down at the ground before slowly lowering one foot to the ground, and when it finally reached Allura decided instantly that she loved the feel of grass. It felt soft but at the same time cool. Putting her second foot on the ground she pulled her hair down from the tower before whirling around and taking everything in from the ground for the first time.

Everything looked so much better from on the ground then from that same window in the tower. She began to bounce on her toes again when she whirled over to look at Nyma.

“This is amazing!!!!” she cried, throwing her hands up in the air as she ran over to the water. She paused for a second at the bank, dipping a toe in before jumping in and splashing water up onto her dress.

“This feels so great!” she yelled, kicking and splashing her feet around in the water, a wide smile spreading across her face. The running water felt like everything she had always dreamed of. She was free to do whatever she wanted now, there was space everywhere for her to run around or dance, this was just great.

She turned around to tell Nyma this only to see the other girl looking at her oddly. Allura hadn’t formed much of an opinion on Nyma yet. She was a bit odd, with the thing she did with her face and how she was obsessed with her bag, oh and the fact that apparently she made the kingdom angry at her somehow. But Nyma had agreed to take her to see the lanterns so she couldn’t be that bad of a person.

Nyma quickly changed the look on her face when she saw Allura looking at her, which was odd. Was she embarrassed of it or something?

“Come on princess, don’t want to get you or your lizard wet before we even leave home,” Nyma said as she walked over to her. Coran stuck his tongue out at her, but Allura stepped out of the water with only slight regret, she could go back in later after they saw the lanterns.

“Coran’s a chameleon, not a lizard,” Allura corrected as she followed Nyma out of the glade, speeding up to walk next to her after they were out on the road. Maybe she and Nyma could be friends! Nyma could be the first friend she made outside the tower.

“Ehhh, same thing right?” Nyma said as she stopped at a fork in the road. She looked down both paths before picking the one on the left and leading Allura down it.

“No, not really,” Allura said as she noticed how Coran was sending Nyma angry looks. “Chameleons can change color, lizards can’t.”

“Fascinating,” Nyma said as she stepped over a log, but Allura was beginning to suspect that Nyma didn’t find it all that interesting. Maybe Allura could ask her something about herself.

“Sooooo,” Allura said, swaying closer to Nyma. “What do you like?”

“I like money, not having my things stolen from me, and long walks on the beach,” Nyma said and Allura couldn’t help but notice that one thing was different from the others, and was most likely a jab at her.

She pursed her lips but decided to let it roll off her shoulders. “Well I like painting and dancing, oh and I like reading.”

“Hmmm,” Nyma hummed as she moved a branch out of their path and looked back at Allura waiting for her to go first.

Allura sped past her before slowing down and waiting for Nyma to catch up, falling into step with her. “Do you have a favorite food?”

Nyma glanced over at Allura for a second. “Bread.”

“Your favorite food is bread?” Allura asked. There was no way she could believe Nyma on that one.

Nyma shrugged. “I like bread.”

Allura stared up at her before turning her eyes back to the path. “Well I really like hazelnut soup. Mother was going to make me some but then….” Allura trailed off as it all dawned on her exactly what she was doing. She was going against Mother’s main rule, never leave the tower and she hadn’t once thought about how Mother would feel if she found out. 

Oh no what if she was angry about this? But Allura was having so much fun and it was so nice out here. But did this make her a bad daughter for going against Mother’s wishes? But Allura was having the time of her life out here! What if mother hated her after this though? But Allura never wanted to go back into that stuffy tower after spending less than an hour outside. But-

“Uh, hey princess,” Nyma said, shocking Allura out of her thoughts. “You doing okay? I can’t help but notice that you seem to be having a moral dilemma. You wanna go back?”

Allura stared back at Nyma in surprise. She hadn’t expected the other girl to notice her whole mental tug of war, maybe she showed it too much on her face. But there was no way she could go back to the tower when she had already made it this far!

Shaking her head Allura said, “Nope, I need to do this. I need to leave the nest and show Mother that I’m capable of being outside.”

“So is your, uh, mother super protective of you or something? I mean, she did kinda have you locked up in a tower.”

“Mother just worries about me because of my hair,” Allura said as she patted at her head. Nyma squinted down at her but didn’t say much.

“Right.”

“I need to do this!”

“A little teenage rebellion is good, healthy,” Nyma said with a shrug.

“You think?” Allura asked, hopeful that maybe she had cracked Nyma’s shell.

“You’re just overthinking” Nyma said. “Does your mother deserve this? No. Will this break her heart? Possibly.”

“Wh-what?” Allura asked, was this Nyma trying to pull her leg? “Break her heart?!”

“In half,” Nyma said with another shrug.

“You’re right, if she found out she would be heartbroken-“

"I am, aren’t I?” Nyma said with a sigh before turning to Allura, clapping her hands together. “How about this princess, I drop the deal between us and just take you back to your tower. I get my satchel and you keep your mother-daughter relationship as tight as a ship and we part as unlikely friends. How about that?”

“What! No way, I’m seeing those lanterns!” Allura cried, stomping her foot. She was not going back to the tower until she accomplished her goal. She wasn’t about to give up.

“What is it going to take to get my satchel back?!”

Allura was about to open her mouth when she head a bush rustle by her foot. Jumping back she held the frying pan out and stared down at the bush, remembering everything Mother had ever told her about the outside world. “What was that? Is it thieves? Ruffians?”

Out of a bush hopped a tiny fluffy animal, a bunny of things. Allura heard Nyma sigh next her.

“Be careful, I’m pretty sure it can smell fear.”

Allura let out a nervous giggle. “Sorry, I’m a little jumpy after all the stories Mother has told me.”

“Probably best if we avoid those sorts of people, huh?” Nyma asked, though she had a weird look in her eye.

“Yeah that would probably be for the best,” Allura said, a small smile spreading across her face. Nyma and her were beginning to click, she just knew it.

“Are you hungry? I know a great place not too far from here. Practically five stars,” Nyma said, placing a hand on Allura’s shoulder and leading her in a different direction.

“Oh really, well lead the way,” Allura said as she let Nyma lead her along.

“Don’t worry, I’ sure you’ll smell it before you see it.”

/////

Mother Hagger was making her way through the forest when she ran into a horse. “Oh my, what are you doing all the way out here?”

She paused however when she got a closer look at the horse. On its back was a saddle, but not just any saddle, one that all those wretched palace guards have.

“Allura,” she hissed, turning on her heels and running back in the direction of the tower. They couldn’t get her, she was her potion of youth. She couldn’t go back to aging. She just couldn’t. 

Crashing through the trees she finally came to a stop at the bottom of the tower, frantically calling up to Allura, her voice cracking in fear. “Allura, let down your hair!”

She got no response. “Allura!”

Hagger began to rip at the vines covering the secret door she had long ago hidden. Flying up the steps she was greeted to silence once she reached the top.

“Allura!” she cried as she raced around, looking for the girl only to find nothing. 

When she was racing down the stairs she noticed how one of the boards was slightly loose. Stopping, she knelt down and ripped off the board to reveal a satchel. Opening up she saw the crown that had once belonged to Allura and a wanted poster for some girl named Nyma.

Stuffing everything back in the satchel she threw it over her shoulder and went and pulled a knife out from a loose floorboard. There were plenty of hiding spots throughout the castle.

“I’m coming for you my flower.”


	7. The Snuggly Duckling

“Here we are,” Nyma cried, spreading her arms wide as they arrived in front of their destination. “The Snuggly Duckling!”

“Oh,” Allura cooed. “It sounds so cute, but uh, what is that smell?”

“Well I personally think it’s man smell and then really bad man smell,” Nyma said, slinging an arm around Allura and leading her up to the door, “Don’t worry, this place is perfect for you.” 

She did feel kinda bad about taking Allura to the last place she probably wanted to go on during this whole soul searching trip, but Nyma really couldn’t take the girl to see the lanterns. If she was seen by a guard she’d be arrested on the spot and thrown in jail, and personally, that didn’t sound very appealing to Nyma. So she was improvising and trying to scare Allura back into her tower.

Throwing the door to the bar wide open it revealed its normal guests, lovingly referred to by many as thieves, thugs and riff raff. They all turned their heads around to look at the newcomers, many of their faces screwed into a scowl when their eyes landed on Nyma.

“Well, well, well,” Zethrid said, standing up from her seat, she was one of the few in this place that Nyma didn’t downright despise. She could see assholes like Throk and Haxus sneering at her from their seats in the back. They had to be the ones stinking the place up. “Would you look who it is? The most wanted thief of the moment.”

“Heh, what can I say?” Nyma said with a shrug, she could feel Allura’s eyes boring into her after that comment. “A girl needs to eat.”

“I didn’t realize you needed money that bad,” Acxa said, looking at Nyma from over her drink. “If I had known I would’ve helped you out.”

"You know people like us don’t ask for help,” Nyma said as she noticed how a few unknown faces were creeping just a little too close for her comfort.

“Well I must say, you have a very nice reward for your capture,” Ezor said with a giggle as she waved a wanted poster in her hand, a sinister smile crossing her face. “In fact-Throk, go find the guards and tell them that we have Nyma here with us. I’m sure we could split up this lovely award between us.”

Oh no, Nyma could feel her blood cool as she heard those words and then saw someone sprint out the door, slamming it behind them and adding an extra barrier to Nyma’s escape. Though she supposed she really couldn’t leave Allura here with them.

“My, my,” Ezor cooed, Narti shifting in the seat next to Ezor to hear everything that was going on a little bit better. “I almost didn’t notice your friend, she really doesn’t fit in here I’m afraid.”

“She has a lot of hair,” someone commented and Nyma noticed how Allura seemed to be gathering all her hair closer to her in fear that they would do something to.

She really needed to figure how she was going to get herself and Allura out of this mess without getting caught, or well, at least herself. Time for damage control.

“She’s growing it out, it’s all the rage in the kingdom over,” Nyma said as Allura tugged at her sleeve.

“Does that man’s mustache…have blood in it?” Allura whispered staring over at the man in question with a look of fear flashing in her eyes.

“Well princess I do believe he does,” Nyma said, patting the girl on the back as she tried to maneuver her out the door But you know, you’re not looking too good, maybe we should leave and take you back home-“. “

Nyma’s back hit something; however, it wasn’t the door. 

“I don’t think that be a good idea,” someone grumbled. Nyma felt Allura stiffen beside her and moved her in the opposite direction that she had been aiming for, the middle of the room.

“But you know,” Ezor said as she glanced down at the wanted poster, “I don’t think this is enough for all of us to get a cut, so I suppose whoever gets a hold of you gets the reward.”

Great, now she was going to have to fend off a bunch of hoodlums, though she really didn’t have much room to call them that.

“Well I need the money,” Antok said, grabbing one of her arms. How rude, he couldn’t just put his grimy hand on her!

“Well I have the wanted poster,” Ezor said, standing up and grabbing her other arm, separating Allura from where she had been pressed up against Nyma’s side to stay as far away from the others.

“Well I need a new knife,” Acxa said, reaching for Nyma’s leg, oh no she wasn’t about to become part of a human tug of war was she?

“Well I saw her first,” Zethrid said as Narti looked between her three bickering companions. And oh look Zethrid was reaching for her only free leg, looks like Nyma was about to be ripped limb from limb.

“I get the money!”

“No I get the money!”

“No I do!”

"No, me!”

Nyma was about ready to just accept her fate when suddenly Allura was pulling the two at her feet off of her and crying, “Leave her alone!”

“And what’cha gonna do about it!” someone yelled, probably ready to replace one of her leg pullers.

“I need her, she’s my guide,” Allura said, pointing back at Nyma, “She needs to take me to see the lanterns tomorrow. It’s my lifelong dream! Haven’t any of you had a dream? Find some humanity or at least some shred of niceness you might have!”

Nyma wasn’t sure what she was expecting after that moving speech, some grumblings and laughter or something. Nyma knew she felt a little touched that Allura was standing up for her despite her feeling like she had made it obvious that she was trying to get rid of Allura. But maybe she had misjudged the girl. 

However back to how hardened criminals and thugs responded to some teenager’s question about whether or not they had ever had a dream.

Zethrid took a threatening step towards Allura, towering over top of her and Nyma started to feel nervous for Allura’s sake since the girl was just staring the six foot girl down. Nyma wasn’t sure what she thought Zethrid was going to do to Allura, snap her like a twig? Just throw her out the door? Not have her entire face drop from the threatening scowl to a far off misty look as she mumbled, “I had a dream once.”

“Well what was it?” Allura asked, her face brightening.

“I wanted to be a pianist, not just any pianist, but a great one,” she said, staring off in the distance, “I wanted to play on the largest stages, Mozart, Beethoven, my own symphonies.”

“Well what stopped you?” Allura asked, while Nyma contemplated how she could free her arms. At least she had her feet on the ground now.

“A girl’s got to eat,” Zethrid said with a shrug. “I can always dream but-“

“That’s crazy! You have to keep trying!”

“And what do you suggest I do kid?” Nyma was pretty sure she could get one arm free if she slowly moved her arm out of its captor’s grasp.

"Start practicing again, show up at the concert halls and get them to let you play!” Nyma’s arm was almost freed when Allura turned around and pointed at Antok.

“What about you, what do you want?”

“Ummm,” Antok said with a shrug as he loosened his grip enough on Nyma that she could easily slip free. “I mean, I always wanted to find love,” he answered, all while letting out a dreamy sigh.

“Well what’s stopping you from finding your special someone?” Allura asked and Nyma couldn’t help but feel like this was all one big pep rally.

“I’m not exactly a looker,” he said, gesturing to his face. “I mean, my complexion is awful, I’ve got scars, lumps and bruises; my face scares people when they see it. But I’ve always been a lover, not a fighter.”

“We all have dreams,” Acxa said, and wow Nyma never would’ve expected that to come out of her mouth. “I’ve always wanted to become a blacksmith, but that takes money so I needed some source of income.”

“Well do you have enough now to buy a shop?” Allura asked and somehow she had found herself on top of a table as she gave this inspirational speech to all of Nyma’s potential kidnappers, but hey if it got them out of here.

“I mean, probably, but who wants to buy horseshoes from a criminal.”

“Maybe you could start off with another blacksmith so people could get to know you. Plus don’t some blacksmiths make weapons, as a criminal yourself you would have background knowledge on such things,” Allura said.

Acxa nodded her head at this, with a look on her face that seemed to say that she was concentrating hard on this issue.

“What about you, the only one left holding onto Nyma?” Allura asked pointing at Ezor who looked around before pointing at herself in surprise; did the girl really think there was someone else holding onto Nyma?

“I mean I wouldn’t mind quitting and maybe working at a bakery, I like making cupcakes but who has the time when I’m making more money as a thief. Besides, everyone in here has a dream,” Ezor said before she began to point at different people and listing off their dream. “Kolivan wants to quit and be a florist, Morvok is good at interior design, Ulax wants to be a doctor, Thace knits, Peex does puppet shows for the kids and Narti collects ceramic cats.”

“See,” Allura cried as she threw her arms wide in the air, “You all have a dream, way deep down inside, and you all should follow your dreams!”

“What about you,” Antok said, elbowing Nyma in the side, “Do you have a dream?”

Grimacing she rubbed her side. “Sorry hun, I’m not exactly into story time.”

In about three seconds she could hear swords unsheathing and pointing right at her. Fine.

“I have dreams like you all, no really,” Nyma said waving her hands out in front of her as they began to re-sheathe their swords. “Just a little less, uh, touchy feely. They normally happen somewhere warm and sunny. They’re far away from here on an island I own, well rested and alone-“ she saw how a few were starting to take a step closer to her as if they were preparing for her to say something wrong. What the heck, how did these people become so attached to Allura’s enthusiasm so quickly? “Surrounded by enormous piles of money!” she finished before ducking out of the way of one of the thugs surrounding her and weaseling between the crowd to find Allura.

She found Allura standing on a table surrounded by cheering thieves and thugs, raising their drinks in the air as she told them all about her dream. 

“I just have one dream,” she hummed, swirling around on the table and clutching her chest and doing poorly in hiding her bubbling excitement, “I just want to see the floating lanterns gleam! I’m just so glad I left my tower! Just like everyone in here I have a dream!”

Nyma needed to figure a way out of here. While she was happy for Allura for befriending and entire pub full of thugs and overcoming her fears, she really needed to get out of here before the guards came in.

Dodging out of the way of a dancing thug singing about how they all had a dream inside (Nyma was beginning to feel like she had walked into an alternate reality) she slipped up next to Allura.

“Hey, we need to find a way out of here.”

“What, why?” Allura asked, a cute pout forming on her face, “Everyone is having so much fun!”

“Well neither of us will be having too much fun if the guards-“ Nyma never got to finish her sentence.

The door was flung open to reveal Rhat panting with a hand on his knee. “I found the guards!”

“Shit,” Nyma muttered as she pulled Allura off the table and began to weave between the crowd. She caught a glimpse of armor as people began to storm in behind Rhat.

“Where is the fugitive Nyma?” called a voice the Nyma knew belonged to the captain. She really didn’t want to deal with this right now. “Search every nook and cranny of this place! We won’t let her escape.”

“We need to get out now,” Nyma hissed as she pulled Nyma behind the bar. Looking over the counter she could see Shiro standing at the door calling out orders and-oh no, Rolo and Beezer where with them. Double shit. 

Pressing herself against the bar, Nyma began to run all the possible theories on how she could escape out of here a free woman. She almost didn’t notice when Acxa came out of nowhere and pulled on a lever underneath the bar to revel a secret passage.

“Woah,” Nyma said as she stared down into it.

“Go, live your dream,” Acxa said as she pointed down into the tunnel.

“Oh I will,” Nyma said with a smile on her face. She was home free.

“I wasn’t talking to you. Your dream stinks” Acxa muttered and ouch, that hurt.

“Thank you,” Allura said as Nyma jumped down into the tunnel, stopping to catch Allura.

Allura waved back at Acxa as Nyma began to pull her down the tunnel and a few seconds later they could hear the opening close.

“Okay,” Nyma said as they took a turn. The tunnel was badly lit though she supposed it wasn’t really used for vacation purposes. “When we get out of here we are going to head straight to the kingdom. I’ll drop you off there to go see the lights and then pick you up when it’s over.”

“What, you’re not going to come see them with me?” Allura asked and Nyma could hear the pout in her voice.

“As you can see the guards don’t exactly like me!” Nyma whisper yelled.

“I’m sure we’ll figure something out.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Nyma muttered as she wondered what was happening back at the pub. Hopefully they hadn’t found her and had left empty handed.

/////

However that was the exact opposite. Seconds after they had escaped into the tunnel Voltron burst into the pub much to Shiro’s surprise and found the lever to the secret tunnel. The guards followed after them, leaving behind only two guards to watch Rolo and Beezer. Which of course wasn’t enough to hold them off. Nyma’s two former partners escaped and followed the guards down into the tunnel after her for what they believed was rightfully theirs.

They weren’t the only ones who had plans to cause Nyma problems, oh no there was one more person to this.

Mother Hagger stood outside the pub seething at the fact that Allura had left the tower on her own will. Mother had been worried for that rat, that she had been kidnapped, but oh no, she left the tower on her own and now she needed to figure out where that tunnel led out.

Slipping a knife out from her bag she snuck up behind Rhok and pressed it to his neck.

“Tell me, where does that tunnel lead?” she missed as she felt the thug shiver in fear under her grasp.


	8. Her Hair Glows?!

“You know I gotta say, you were pretty impressive back there,” Nyma said, breaking Allura from her thoughts.

“Hmmm, what do you mean?” she asked as she glanced over at the other girl. They were almost to the end of the tunnel and Allura could see light in the distance.

“You were able to distract everyone and get them to like you enough to save our butts back there,” Nyma said and Allura couldn’t help the wide smile that crossed her face, it felt nice to be praised for once. “I guess what I’m trying to say is thanks for the, uh, help.”

“It’s no problem, you’re helping me,” Allura said, glancing over at Nyma for a few seconds before flicking them right back to the path in front of them. “It’s the least I could do.”

“Well thanks princess, now lets hurry up and get you to the city!”

Allura had decided that Nyma must’ve finally warmed up to her, maybe she and Nyma would be unlikely friends by the end of this, and maybe Nyma would even tell her a little about yourself. “So, where are you from?”

“Uh sorry princess, I don’t do backstories either. I mean, I’m interested in yours but I know I can’t ask about the hair-“

“Correct,” Allura said with a nod, she was worried about what Nyma might do if she found out the truth about her hair. While she really wanted to trust Nyma she did know that the girl was wanted by the kingdom for some reason.

“Or about your mother-“

“Yep,” Allura said with another nod. It was better for her not to talk about Mother since she was currently going through a crisis about how it seemed that Mother had been lying to her for years. She was out in the outside world and being treated the nicest she had been in a long time. Nyma was rough around the edges but she didn’t scare her like Mother did.

“I’m too scared to ask about why you have a frog-“

“Chameleon,” Allura corrected with a hum as Coran scurrying out form his hiding place behind her hair. He hadn’t liked the people in the pub, they were too loud for him so he had taken shelter in her hair until they had left.

Coran gave Nyma an evil look before sticking his tongue out at her. Allura had to stifle a giggle at the look on Nyma’s face and how she stuck out her tongue right back.

“Okay, okay but my one big question is this,” Nyma said as they come outside into the bright light, Allura had to shield her eyes for a second while Nyma finished her question, “If you’ve wanted to go see the lanterns for so long, why haven’t you? Don’t tell me it’s because your mother won’t let you.”

“Uh, well,” Allura began, fidgeting with her fingers since the reason she hadn’t gone to see the lights was exactly as Nyma said, but why did she seem to think that it would be crazy that Mother wouldn’t let her go. She was about to brush it off when the sound of thundering feet came out of the cave.

“Oh no,” Nyma said as she grabbed Allura’s wrist and began to pull her down a small trail on the side of the mine.

Allura looked behind them to see someone come running out of the cave shouting Nyma’s name. Allura was really beginning to wonder what exactly Nyma had done to make them so angry at her.

“Who’s that?” Allura asked as Nyma pulled her around a turn.

“A guy who really doesn’t like me,” Nyma said as a bunch of people came spilling out of the cave after the other guy, all wearing the same outfit, it must be a uniform.

“Who are they?”

“They also don’t like me,” Nyma said as two more people came out of a different opening right in front of them.

"Who are they?” Allura asked, they didn’t look like they were with the others.

“Let’s just assume everyone here hates me,” Nyma cried as she came to a stop and looked between the two groups quickly approaching them.

“I’ll get us a way out of here,” Allura said as she looked between the different rock formations around the area. If she could get her hair around one of the stronger ones she could maybe swing her and Nyma to safety. “Here take this,” she said, handing her frying pan to her and swinging her hair around part of a broken mineshaft beam and jumping off. She swung herself over to a rock cropping and got to work figuring out where would be the best place to swing themselves from.

Allura could hear Nyma hitting something we the frying pan and a far off “I need to get me one of these!” while she tied her hair around on of the rocks on the side to keep it extra secure.

When she heard the frying pan fall to the bottom of the mine and Nyma say, “Best two out of three,” she knew it was time for her to move. Winding up her arm she threw her hair around Nyma’s hand and pulled it back.

She followed Nyma with her eye and had to move her out of the way of the two people on the bottom of the mine who were both shouting all kinds of profanities at Nyma. Really, Allura wanted to know what Nyma had done to all these people.

Nyma landed on another outcropping and Allura was figuring out where she was going to send herself when she heard a loud thumping noise and turned to see the horse kicking down a rafter that connected to some kind of waterway.

Allura could hear the rushing water but saw none, she was about to look around for it when the horse succeeding in knocking over the rafter and connecting the guards to her little outcropping.

Taking a step closer to the edge she heard Nyma call out to her and glanced down to see her in standing in some kind of trough looking thing.

“Come on princess, we’ve got to move!”

Allura glanced back over her shoulder to see the horse and the guards tiptoeing across the beam and decided it was now or never and jumped off the outcropping.

She soared through the sky and landed gracefully on the ground and starting running, pulling her hair up close to her chest to keep it from dragging behind her and slowing her down even more.

Nyma appeared by her side after a few seconds, apparently she had slid down the trough thing which was where the water was coming down from, though Allura swore that earlier she had heard more.

She looked behind her to see the two people who had been shouting at Nyma were right on their heels and to make matters worse a loud crack filled the air. Allura just managed to see the rushing water pour out of the dam that had been behind the mine and move towards them quickly in the form of a monstrous wave.

Allura whipped her head forwards and stared straight ahead as she followed after Nyma, not even looking back when she head the cries of the two chasing after them quickly turning into garbles as they were no doubt swallowed up by the water.

“This way,” Nyma cried, grabbing at Allura’s wrist and pulling her towards an opening in the side of cliff, “Into the cave!”

Allura could hear her heart thumping widely in her ears as they ran down the passageway that kept getting narrower and narrower. It was completely dark and the sound of the water rushing in after them filled the space. 

Allura was hoping, wishing, for the exit to be coming up soon when Nyma stopped right in front of her, causing Allura to run into the back of her.

“Come on we need to run!” Allura cried as she moved past Nyma only to find the reason why Nyma had stopped. It was a dead end.

“I think this system got closed off,” Nyma said as water began to lap at Allura’s ankles and slowly filling up the space. “We might be able to break through if we shift through these rocks but-“

Nyma was cut off by a gush of water pouring in and filling the room almost to the brim. Allura struggled to keep her head above the water as her feet left the ground and the water began to fill up to the top of the cave.

"Crap, crap, crap,” Nyma muttered before Allura heard a splash and Nyma’s hand left her arm. 

Struggling to keep herself up she pushed her hands against the side of the walls to keep herself above the water, though it was useless seeing how it was slowly rising to the top of the cave.

“Nyma! Nyma!” Allura yelled as her head grazed the stone ceiling, there wasn’t much longer before the entire place was filled with water.

Allura heard more splashing and deep gasps for breath that could only be from Nyma. 

“I swam down and tried to move the rocks but I couldn’t see anything, it’s pitch black down there!” Nyma cried as Allura felt her hands go back on her arms. “It looks-it looks like this might be the end if we can’t find a way out of here.”

“What,” Allura said, her voice hushed as it all sunk it, she could die here, no she was going to die here if they couldn’t find a way out of here. The water was up to her chin now, there wasn’t much longer before it filled the room.

“Oh no,” Allura muttered as she felt tears prick at her eyes. “This is-this is all my fault.”

“Wha-no, no it’s not,” Nyma said, Allura felt her hands tighten around her arms.

“Ye-yes it is,” Allura said with a hiccup. “I was the one that forced you to take me to see the lights. I’m sorry Nyma,” Allura said as a sob escaped her throat.

“It’s Nyma Curtis.”

“Wait, what?”

“When we met, I didn’t tell you my full name-well I haven’t used my full name in a long time but I figured I should say it to someone one last time.”

Allura felt her heart soften at that fact that Nyma had told her something that she must be private to her, and as the water began to rise too close to her mouth, causing her to tilting her head out to get out the last few words she wanted to share with Nyma. “Well, I have magic hair that glows when I sing.”

“What?” Nyma cried as it clicked with Allura what she could do.

“I have hair that glows!” she cried before trying to sing at least a lyric before the water reached the top. “Flower gleam and glow, let your power shine-“

Allura was cut off as water filled her mouth, shutting her eyes she felt water cover her head, she was completely submerged now. Peeking open one eye she was not greeted by dark water, but rather the water being lit up by her hair.

Nyma was looking at her with wide eyes before she shook her head and swam over to where the rocks were. Allura followed after her and the two frantically dug and clawed at the rocks until finally they all began to fall away and both the water and them came pouring out.

Nyma had grabbed Allura’s arm and pulled both of them to air as the water flew down the rest of the passageway carrying them out into a river.

The two pulled themselves onto the shore. Allura flopped herself facedown into the ground and breathed in the dirt and grass. It was so nice to be on solid ground. She felt Coran hop off her shoulder from where he had been clutching to the shoulder of her dress.

A smile crossed her face as she heard Nyma muttering besides her.

“I’m alive, but wait, her hair glows-but I’m alive-but her hair glows.”

Allura almost laughed at Nyma’s plight while she was pretty sure that Coran was.

Pushing herself up off the ground she noted that it was getting dark, they were going to need a fire. She could hear Nyma talking to herself, or maybe Coran.

“I did not see that coming. But how does her hair glow? I mean by all scientific-“

“Nyma,” Allura said, spinning around on her heels. “It doesn’t just glow.”

“Wh-what do you mean by that?” Nyma cried, looking down at Coran who was smirking at her. Allura watched as Nyma scrambled out of the water towards her. 

“No seriously, what are you talking about?!”

//////

“I’m going to kill Nyma,” Rolo cried in rage as Beezer sat on the edge of the shore and wrung out his shirt. “She's gonna get her neck wrung. We’ll cut her off at the kingdom and get back what’s rightfully ours.”

Beezer had stopped listening to Rolo’s rant thought once he had noticed someone approaching them. A women in a cloak appeared in the clearing.

“Boys, boys,” she cooed, clasping her hands together. “Perhaps you could stop acting like wild animals and maybe, I don’t know, form an actual plan.”

Rolo snarled at her. “Get lost.”

“Ah, ah,” the women said, waggling her finger at them. Holding up a satchel she tossed it at Beezer who caught it easily. “Take a look.”

Beezer opened the bag and his eyes widened when he saw what was inside. It was the crown. He showed it to Rolo who turned back to the woman with a smirk on his face.

“If that’s all you want then I’ll be on my way,” she said with a huff and a twirl of her cloak. “I was going to offer you something worth a hundred crowns that would make you rich beyond your wildest dreams, but if you’re satisfied with just that-“

“What are you offering?” Rolo asked. Beezer could practically hear him drooling.

“I’m offering you something that comes with revenge on the thief Nyma.”

Beezer grimaced as he thought of the wide smile that must be forming on Rolo’s face. He just wanted to go home and get some sleep.


	9. Allura Knows Best

“Uh, not to you know, stop you from whatever it is you’re doing, but uh, I’m kinda freaked out with how your just cryptically wrapping your hair around my hand,” Nyma said as she stared down at Allura wrapping her hair around Nyma’s injured hand. She must’ve cut it from when she was moving the rocks.

She flinched slightly when Allura tightened her hair around the hand, damn that stung.

“Whoops, sorry,” Allura said, an apologetic smile on her face as she finished wrapping her hair.

The lizard hopped down from Allura’s shoulder and settled in her lap, giving Nyma a look that she didn’t like. Why did it feel like that lizard was smirking at her?

“So what, uh, are you planning on doing exactly?”

“Well my hair doesn’t just glow.”

“Okay, I’m kinda scared-“

“Oh just watch,” Allura said and a few seconds later she was singing that same song from the cave, the one that made her hair light up. “Flower gleam and glow, let your power shine-“

Nyma watched in awe as Allura’s hair began to light up, an eerie white light traveling from the top of her head and ending at the part that covered her hand.

She stared down at it with wide eyes and tuned out Allura’s singing as she stared down at her hand.

A few seconds later Allura unwound her hair from Nyma’s hand to reveal that the large gash was gone. Nyma stared down at her hand as a million things raced through her mind, not only did this girl’s hair glowed, but it also could heal?!

“Don’t freak out,” Allura said, though her voice sounded far away as Nyma stared down at her hand and freaked the heck out.  
“I-I’m not freaking out,” she stuttered as she flipped her hand around to see if it really was real. “I’m perfectly calm.”

“Are you sure? You don’t seem that calm,” Allura said as she let her hair fall back to the ground.

“Uuuuh, yep, yeah, doing fine,” Nyma said, snapping her eyes back to Allura’s face and plastered a shaky smile on her face. What the hell had just happened?! “I’m, uh, just wondering how long it’s been able to do that.”

“Oh, uh, forever I guess,” Allura said with a shrug and Nyma about doubled over because everything made sense now, well mostly everything. Why Allura had been locked up in that tower, why she seemed so jumpy and probably why she was so determined to see thee lights, it was all because of her hair.

Now Nyma wasn’t about to jump to any conclusions but she was beginning to suspect that this Mother person might not be keeping Allura locked in the tower for her own safety, but that wasn’t her place so she decided to keep her mouth shut, but maybe prod around a bit.

“So uh, what had your mother told you about your hair?” Nyma asked, hoping she sounded casual; she even threw one leg over the other.

“Uh, just that someone cut my hair once as a child,” Allura said as she moved some of her hair to show Nyma a piece of black hair, contrasting greatly with the rest of the stark white. “She said people want it since it can heal, but once it’s cut it’s useless. Mother-Mother says that a gift like this needs to be protected, so she locked me in the tower to keep anyone from hurting me.”

Okay now Nyma was really skeptical, how could she trust this mother’s word, for all Nyma could know this woman was the one who tried and cut Allura’s hair in the first place. Surely Allura had to have her own suspicions. Nyma had made up her mind about one thing though.

“Are you planning on going back to the tower after you see the lights?”

“No, well, yes, well no, well-oh I don’t know,” Allura said, tugging at her hair. “I don’t want to be forced back into that musty old tower-but I don’t want to make Mother angry.”

“Huh, well I think it be best if maybe you stayed out of it, you know, explore the rest for the world,” Nyma said, doing her best to keep the smile on her face. She’d be damned if she let Allura go back to that tower just to be locked up like a caged animal again, she could understand the desire of freedom.

“Huh, that is a good idea,” Allura said as she tapped at her chin. “Would you go with me?”

“Uh, I’m not sure, I mean, I’m kinda hung up at the moment,” Nyma said, not really getting why this girl asking her to go exploring with her made her chest feel funny. Maybe it was because she hadn’t eaten yet today.

“Oh well, Nyma Curtis, what’s your story?” Allura asked, looking up at her with them big eyes. “Why don’t you use your last name?”

“You don’t seem to have a last name.”

“That’s beside the point, tell me about yourself.” Damn she was insistent.

“Well,” Nyma said, sitting back slightly and shifting her gaze away from Allura, “I’m not sure you want to hear the sad story of little orphan Nyma.”

“What, of course I do!”

Nyma let out a huff, but she felt her edges soften when she glanced over at Allura and saw her staring at her with wide eyes. 

“I was barely a year old when I was left at the doorstep of my town’s orphanage. The owner, a woman by the name of May Curtis, brought me in-“

“Wait, is that why your last name is Curtis?” Allura asked, leaning closer to Nyma.

Nyma glanced down at her, feeling her stomach twist into a knot at the closeness before she continued. “Yeah, she said that it didn’t matter if we got adopted or not, we were always going to be connected, we were always going to be family so she gave all of us her last name. In a way it was almost like she was our mother until we were adopted.”

“So were you adopted?”

“Uh, no,” Nyma said, her answer hushed as she stared down at the ground. She had long ago worked through her most of her issues with feeling abandoned, but sometimes that dull pang of hurt would come back when she thought back to her youth. “But it didn’t matter; the other kids and me were practically family. We had each other’s back no matter what, if you messed with one of us you messed with all of us.”

“That sounds nice, like having a lot of siblings,” Allura said as she rested her head in her hand. 

Nyma chuckled at this, as she toed at the ground. This was starting to become a lot more revealing than she had planned, though it seemed that Allura just made her want to tell her everything about her life.

“I guess you could say that. But it wasn’t all fun and games. Kids are mean, and we all learned that first hand.” Nyma heard Allura make a confused noise and okay that made her stomach knot up but that’s okay Nyma guessed. She was just hungry, she needed to go and find some berries or something.

“Some kids like to make fun of those who don’t have parents-“

“But you had Ms. Curtis.”

“She wasn’t a mom, more like a caregiver. But yeah, it was hard to make ends meet when you sometimes have close to fifteen kids to care for. Sometimes we had to wear the same clothes for a few years, almost everything was hand-me-downs and some kids would make fun of us. I don’t know, kids don’t make sense sometimes.”

“Oh,” Allura said, her brow furrowed.

“Yeah, but it was okay most of the time but like I said, not all rainbows. There would be nights when Ms. Curtis couldn’t eat so that we could at least get something to eat or where she had to struggle to pay the bills.”

“Why wouldn’t the kingdom help you?”

“I mean she’d get some money in the post from the king ever few months but it was never enough, so I, uh, kinda made a promise to the kids when I left…..” Nyma said before tapering off, staring down at Allura who was waiting expectedly for her to finish.

“Uh huh.”

“I promised them that I would go out and make so much money that they wouldn’t ever need to worry about food or clothes or anything ever again. I would buy them a house where everyone could have their own room instead of sharing with four or five other kids,” Nyma said as she shook her head with a laugh. “It was such a ridiculous promise-“

“I don’t think it’s ridiculous,” Allura said with a huff as she crossed her arms. “I think it’s a great promise! I’m sure you could do it! Is that why you need your satchel back? Does it have your money for them in it?”

“Uh, yeah, it kinda does. I, uh, stole something worth a lot of money.”

“You-you stole something?” Allura asked, tilting her head slightly as she stared up at Nyma with a look that made her feel guilty for some reason. What the heck was going on with her?

“Uh yeah, but, um, it was something of the king’s and it wasn’t even being used. It was just collecting dust! If I sell it, it’ll help a bunch of kids.” Why was she defending herself like this?

“I-I think that it might not be the right thing to do, but it might be an okay thing to do if it’s going to help more people by being sold,” Allura stared down hard at the ground and she seemed to figure out exactly what to say. For some reason hearing Allura feel that her stealing the crown wasn’t such a bad thing made her feel ten times better. “But I have one question.”

“What is it?”

“Why didn't you try to get or job or something other than stealing?”

Oh wow that was hitting close to home. “I, uh, tried. I mean, I signed up for the military and everything but I quickly learned that the only way to make good money quickly was to either be of nobility or go to the academy. But the academy cost money.”

“Well that’s stupid.”

Nyma laughed at that. “That’s what I thought too so I figured if I wanted to get money I would try something else. I dropped my last name so it felt like I wouldn’t be dragging the kids and Ms. Curtis into a big old mess and I started stealing. I mean, I was able to steal a whole two chart loads of gold in a few minutes.”

Allura nodded her head at this but the lizard didn’t seem to agree with her.

“You can’t tell anyone this, it’ll ruin my reputation.”

“What? How could you being such a nice person ruin your image?” Allura asked, crossing her arms and oh wow there just went Nyma’s heart.

“Uh, well, uh I just, uh, sometimes all a person has is their fake reputation,” Nyma said with an awkward laugh. Time to flee the scene before she made it all worse.

“Hmm, well I think I like Nyma Curtis than Nyma the thief,” Allura said with a sniff as she uncrossed her arms and put her hands on her lap. “I think you’re a nice person Nyma.”

“Uh, well, uh, thanks,” Nyma said as she felt her face heat up. She rubbed at the back of her neck. “You’d, uh, you’d be the first,” she said before she stood up abruptly. Time to leave and get firewood or food or something. 

“Well, um, I’m going to go get some supplies, don’t wander off!”

“Oh, okay,” Allura said as Nyma walked as normally as she could out of the little clearing and when she was sure she was out of sight she about kneeled over.

What the heck was going on with her heart?! Being around this girl had to be bad for her health.

/////

Allura hummed to herself as she waited for Nyma to get back. She liked Nyma, she was actually really sweet when she wasn’t trying to act all tough.

Playing with the edge of her dress she thought back to some of the books she had read and remembered one about this girl who was always saying her heart was all a flutter when she was around some guy she liked.

Allura felt like her heart had been a butterfly flying around in her chest when Nyma had been telling Allura her story.

She felt a smile pull at her face as she pushed a stray hair behind her ear. She was happy, like really happy, the happiest she had been in years, and it was all because of Nyma.  
Her happiness was quickly shattered though.

“Oh my, I thought she’d never leave,” came a voice that made Allura’s blood run cold. No, no, oh no, she couldn’t be here. She should be traveling north.

Whirling her head around Allura saw Mother whisking into the clearing, her cloak billowing around her feet as she quickly approached Allura. Her hair was beginning to gray and her face didn’t look as smooth as it normally did. They had only been apart for a day, how did she look so old already?

Feeling her stomach drop, Allura stood up from the ground and took a step back from Mother, though it was all useless. 

“M-Mother,” Allura stuttered as she took another step back, wringing her hands, this was no good, uh uh, no way this couldn’t be happening. Why was Mother here?!

“Hello dear,” Mother said, coming to a stop a few feet from Allura. A sugary sweet smile on her face which only made Allura’s stomach sink lower.

“But, uh, how the, I-I-I-I, how are you here?” Allura asked, stumbling over her words as she tried to bring her thoughts all together.

“Oh well, you know, I just followed the sounds of complete and utter betrayal and found my way here,” Mother said with a shrug and now Allura’s stomach felt like it was at her feet.

“Mother,” Allura said with a sigh before Mother held up her hand, silencing her.

“We’re going home Allura. Right now,” Mother said, her final words coming out a snarl as she reached for Allura’s wrist.

Allura snapped her wrist back and took a few steps backwards, ignoring the betrayed look on Mother’s face. She wasn’t about to let Mother go back to controlling her. Mother couldn’t have been more wrong about the outside world and now she wanted to lock Allura back up.

“You don’t understand Mother,” Allura said, stomping her foot and crossing her arms, hoping she was giving Mother the cold look she was imagining. “I’ve learned so much since I’ve been outside of the tower. I’ve been having so much fun, I could never go back to that musty tower!”

“Allura don’t be crazy, you’ve had your fun. Now it’s time for you to come home before you get hurt,” Mother said with a sigh as she took another step closer to Allura as Allura took one back.

“I’m not going back Mother, not after everything I’ve experienced. I even met someone-“

“Ah yes the thief,” Mother said, waving her hand at Allura as she took another step closer. “I’m so proud dear, now come along. We need to leave before she comes back.”

“Wait Mother no, I-I think she likes,” Allura said, a small smile on her face as she thought about how she had finally made a friend that wasn’t Coran, and speaking of the chameleon, he was hiding once again behind Allura’s hair though she was sure he wasn’t too happy about Mother finding them. She had just wanted to see the lights and now Mother was about to drag her back to that stupid tower.

“Likes you?” Mother spit, a sneer on her face as she whisked past Allura and stood behind her, “Allura dear, don’t be demented!”

“But Mother she-“ Allura began in hopes of defending Allura only for Mother to whirl her around to face her.

“This is why you never should’ve left Allura,” Mother said as she placed her hand on her forehead, as if to show her just how disappointed she was. “Darling this whole romance you’ve invented-“

Allura opened her mouth to cut Mother off because where the heck had she gotten romance from, yeah Nyma was nice and really cute but she was Allura’s friend! Though Allura didn’t know if friends were supposed to feel their heart beat wildly in their chest when their friend told them something that they hadn’t ever told anyone before-but that was besides the point since Mother kept right on talking over Allura.

“This all just proves how naïve you are dear,” Mother said as she moved her hands to Allura’s cheeks, pinching one before whirling herself once again to be behind Allura, placing her hands on Allura’s shoulders now, her grip incredibly tight,. 

“Why would she like you dear, I mean really? Have you looked in the mirror recently? You’re nothing that special my dear. You’re just another easy target for her to woo and use! I mean, do you really think she’s impressed?!”

Allura could feel the anger welling up inside her as she tightened her fist and clenched her jaw. She could feel her eye twitching as she tried to just withstand Mother’s words but she couldn’t stop the hot pit of anger welling up inside her stomach.

“Don’t be a dummy dear, come back with mummy,” Mother said as she took a step back from Allura and opened her arms wide like she was waiting for a hug. “Mother knows-“

“No,” Allura said, her whole façade cracking as she let all the anger bubble out. She didn’t need to let Mother push and boss her around. Mother didn’t know everything that she claimed she did.

“No?” Mother said, her eyes wide and her voice barely a whisper before she recovered from Allura’s out lash and let a smirk cross her face. “Oh I see how it is. You think that just because you’ve been outside for barely a day that you know how the world works.”

Mother let out a cackle as she stepped right back into Allura’s bubble. “I see how it is.” Mother reached out and placed her hand on Allura’s cheek only for her to flinch away.

Mother frown at this as she leaned back and sneered down at Allura, her tone full of mocking. “Allura knows best now, is that right? Allura’s just so mature now, such a clever grown up miss.”

Mother whirled away once again and Allura felt like she could at least breathe only for Mother to continue her taunting. 

“Fine if you’re so sure of her feelings go ahead and give her this,” Mother said, pulling out the shining piece of jewelry that had been in Nyma’s bag. That must be what she was going to sell to help her family.

“How did you-“ Allura began, her face scrunched up in confusion as she tried to think how Mother could’ve found this, only for the jewelry to be lobbed at her head. She only barely managed to catch it before Mother went on with her taunting.

“That is why she’s here! Don’t let her deceive you!” Mother cried as she pointed at the crown in Allura’s hands. “Give that to her watch and you’ll see!”

“I will,” Allura said as her hold on the jewelry tightened. She trusted Nyma, she wouldn’t leave her just because she got this back.

“Trust me dear,” Mother said as she held up her hand and snapped her fingers. “That’s how fast she’ll leave you after you give her that crown.”

Wait, this was a crown? The thing that kings and queens wore? How did Nyma managed to steal it?

Mother continued her tirade, cutting off Allura’s thoughts as she threw the Nyma’s bag at her.

Allura grabbed it after it hit her in the face only for Mother’s face to be right in front of her.

“I won’t say I told you so after she leaves you!” Mother cried as she practically circled Allura who clutched the bag to her chest. “But I guess Allura knows best!”

Allura slipped the crown into the bag as Mother moved away from her and back towards the woods. 

“If she’s such a dreamboat go and put her to the test!”

Allura considered calling out to Mother and trying to smooth things over but her angry side, the side that had been pushed down for years quickly quieted those thoughts so Allura simply took a few steps back to add to the distance between them.

“If she’s lying don’t come crying,” Mother cried as she waved her finger at Allura. “Just remember, Mother knows best.”

Allura watched as Mother disappeared into the fog that had settled during her whole tirade, setting what Allura thought was the perfect scene. She couldn’t believe Mother! How could she try and force Allura to keep doing her will? Allura hadn’t done anything that she had truly wanted to do for years, and to think that Mother would tell her to test Nyma!

There was no way Nyma would just abandon her, they had bonded! But still, Allura bit down on her lip as voices whispered how she had barely known Nyma for a day while she had known Mother her entire life.

She didn’t get much more time to think on these questions as Nyma came bursting through the trees with an armful of sticks.

“Hey so I got the firewood but I was thinking,” Nyma said, throwing the wood on the ground all while Allura scrambled to act as natural as possible and hoped that Nyma wouldn’t notice that the bag was hers, “Is my hand gonna get superpowers, the one you healed, cause that would be awesome!”

Allura almost let out a breath that she had been holding; at least she knew Nyma hadn’t seen Mother.

“I mean like it be super cool if I got super strength or something like that, cause I’m not gonna lie that be great” Nyma said as she held out her healed hand and turned around to face Allura, her smile faltering slightly when she saw Allura’s face. Apparently she hadn’t hide her worry as well as she had thought.

“Hey, are you okay?” Nyma asked, taking a step closer to Allura and unlike when it had been Mother, Allura wanted to take a step closer to her.

“Uh, oh, yeah, just a little lost in thought you know,” Allura said with a shrug and gave what she hoped wasn’t too shaky of a smile.

“Okay,” Nyma said as she crouched down onto the ground to start the fire, looking back at Allura from over her shoulder. “But back to the super strength thing. I already have superhuman good looks, I’m just saying that some kind of super power would seal the deal, you get what I’m saying?”

Allura really didn’t but she laughed at Nyma anyway and sat down beside of her. She felt Coran run down from her shoulder and onto her lap, she glanced down at him to see him looking up at her.

He pointed his head over at the bag but Allura gave him a small shake of her head. She wasn’t going to worry about Mother right now, she was going to listen to Nyma tell her about these superheroes. The heavy stuff could wait for the morning.


	10. The Festival Part 1

Allura awoke the next morning to Nyma’s screaming and the loud neighing of a horse.

Her eyes flew open and the scene she saw before her about made her burst out laughing.

Nyma’s foot was in the horse’s mouth as it tried to pull her away somewhere. Nyma was trying to fight back with her free foot while clutching into a tree root.

“Let go of me you stupid horse!” Nyma cried as she tried to kick at the horse, only for it duck out of her way and pull harder on her foot. “Let me go!”

Allura pushed herself up and ran over to the two, grabbing under Nyma’s arms. “Let her go!”

Allura gave one strong tug and pulled Nyma’s foot out of her boot and sending the two of them back.

The horse stared at her with Nyma’s boot in her mouth while the latter scooted back from it. The horse moved to surge forward and go after Nyma but Allura put herself between the two and the horse came to a stop.

Allura stared up at the horse as she held her hands up to it. “Whoa, whoa, whoa, easy now, calm down.” Allura petted the horse’s nose as she cooed at it. “Settle down, it’s going to be okay. Good job, now sit.”

The horse stared down at her as it seemed to debate whether or not it wanted to.

Allura could feel Coran sitting on top of her head and almost no doubt that he was pointing at the ground.

Allura put her hands on her hips and was a bit sterner this time. “Sit!”

The horse listened this time and plopped to the ground like a dog. Allura could hear Nyma in the background make some kind of noise in disbelief but she was a bit more focused on the horse who still had Nyma’s boot in it’s mouth.

“Now, drop the boot,” Allura said as pointed down at the ground. The horse paused at this again and looked over at where Nyma was on the ground behind Allura.

“Ah, drop it!”

The horse gave Nyma one last stare before dropping the boot out of it’s mouth.

“Awww, who’s a good horsie?” Allura said as she patted the horse’s noise as it let out a happy neigh. “Yes, you’re such a good horse. You’re just tired from chasing Nyma all over the place right? She was bad and stole something right?”

“Hey, whose side are you on?” Nyma asked from behind her, but was now really the time to be questioning the person who had stopped the horse from dragging her back to the castle.

“Nobody appreciates all your hard work huh?” Allura said as the horse grunted. 

She scratched under it’s chin as Nyma stood up from the ground and cried, “Oh come on! It’s a bad horse.”

“This horse, bad?” Allura asked, turning to Nyma with wide eyes before giving her a wink and hoping that her point would get across. She needed this horse to like her if she wanted to stop Nyma from getting arrested.

“They’re nothing but a big sweetheart isn’t that right-” Allura cooed as she noticed a name on the front of the saddle, “Voltron.”

The horse neighed happily as Nyma grumbled to herself. “Come on seriously?!” But at least she seemed to have gotten Allura’s point.

Now it was time to put her plan in action, she always seemed to be able to connect with animals, like Coran, but now it was time to put it to the test.

“Now listen Voltron,” Allura said with her best pout as she looked up at the horse with sad eyes. “I know you need to do your job and arrest Nyma but I really need her! It’s a special day for me and I need her help.”

Voltron stared down at her, not seeming to understand what she was saying.

“Listen, after twenty four hours is up you two can chase after each other as much as you want, but for now I really need her.”

“See, she needs me,” Nyma said as she appeared at Allura’s side and put an arm on her shoulder as she stuck out her hand. “So how about we shake to play nice for this nice girl?”

Voltron stared down at Nyma like the last thing they wanted to do was shake her hand.

“Just so you know, it’s also kinda my birthday,” Allura added with a shrug and smiled wide when Voltron hesitantly tapped their hoof against Nyma’s hand.

“Great, so we’re good for the day right-“

Allura had turned away from then since she had heard the bells ringing, but they were cut off by Nyma’s loud cry and Voltron’s happy neighing that almost sounded like laughing.

“You damn horse!”

Allura had to go back and do some damage control but now she was right at the edge of the city. Staring up at all the buildings and the grand castle that sat in the center of town. All kinds of different people were walking past her and into the city and their chattering seemed to all mesh together. 

She followed after Nyma who as she slipped between people and into the crowd, to no doubt hide herself from the guards but Allura did stray behind as she looked around at everything. It was all just so much, and everything looked so pretty! 

She could smell all kinds of things and there were people with carts full of all different kinds of things, some with flowers, some with food, some with pieces of fabric. It was all just so much.

However Allura soon realized she was going to have a problem as she turned around and saw that people had begun stepping on her hair and were getting tangled in the long locks. She tried to pull it all up close to her again before turning to Nyma with a look of defeat.

“What am I going to do?” she asked as she held her hair. Nyma looked at with a finger on her chin before looking around the square before she stopped on something and a smile crossed her face.

“I think I found the answer to your problem princess,” Nyma said as Allura turned to look at the same thing she was and was surprised to see that it was four girls, all ranging in age but all looking very similar, like sisters perhaps, sitting on the fountain in the middle of the square braiding each other’s hair.

Nyma walked over to them, taking Allura’s hand and leading her behind before stopping in front of the girls and clearing her throats to get their attention. “Hello girls, I have a project for you,” she said as she took a step back and gestured at Allura.

All four sets eyes lit up when they saw all the hair and one even let out a squeal of joy. They all quickly got to work and Allura sat on the edge of the fountain as they worked hard in tying all her hair together.

Within a few minutes her hair was in a thick braid that ended right at her ankles and threaded throughout her hair were pink and purple flowers.

Twirling around as she looked at their handiwork she felt her smile widen. “Thank you girls so much!”

“It’s no problem,” said one of the girls, whom Allura assumed was the oldest. “Anytime you need us to braid your hair we’ll be more than happy to help you out. We’ve never seen hair this long before!”

Allura was about to say something back when she was cut off by Nyma grabbing her by her shoulders and whispering, “Hide me.”

“From what-“ Allura began before she was cut off by another voice and felt Nyma let go of her shoulders and duck behind her.

“Girls, I hope you’re not bothering this lovely lady,” said the newcomer, who looked an awful lot like the girls, they all had the same eyes.

“No, not at all,” Allura said as she smiled down at the girls. “They were just helping me with my hair.”

“Well that sure was nice of you to let them do that, I swear if I had longer hair they’d try to braid it too, and don’t even get me started on when my-wait where are my manners, the name’s Lance, and what is yours miss?”

“Oh, um, Allura,” she answered as Lance reached out and shook her hand.

“How nice to meet you Allura,” he said with a grin before looking back at the girls. “As much as I’d like to talk to you a little longer I need to get these girls back to their mamas-“  
Allura could hear Nyma let out a sigh of relief from behind her; apparently she really didn’t want this guy to see her for some reason.

“But I hope we run into each other again some time miss,” Lance said with a nod and a smile before glancing down and leaning down a bit. “And I hope you have a nice time at the festival Nyma.”

Nyma let out a squawk from behind her and jumped out from her hiding spot, her face flushed as she pointed an accusing finger at Lance who looked like he was holding back laughter.

“Yo-you knew I was here the whole time?!” Nyma sputtered and Lance doubled over laughing.

“You’re not a very good hider Nyma,” Lance said once he had calmed down from his giggle fit. “I saw you when I was coming over.”

“A-and you didn’t, like, call the guards, or try and come over and-“

“Nyma, I didn’t,” Lance said as he crossed his arms. “I’m past what you did to me, it was a long time ago. And I didn’t call the guards despite the many wanted posters of you plastered around town because I believe you’ll do the right thing.”

“What do you mean by that?” Nyma asked, all while Allura glanced between them very confused. What did Nyma do to Lance?

“Oh, well most thieves would’ve run to a whole ‘nother town by now, but here you are walking around in the kingdom you stole from.”

One of girls must’ve noticed her confusions and tugged on her dress and waved her hand at Allura to lean down.

“Nyma stole some stuff from our uncle and left him tied to a tree,” the girl whispered before looking over at the two. “Uncle Lance got his stuff back since his friends went and got it back from her. He tells us that there’s no point in staying angry about something that happened in the past.”

Allura nodded her head and looked over at the two to see Nyma coming towards her with a large frown on her face.

“Come on princess, we’re going,” Nyma said as she looped her arm through Allura’s and began to drag her away.

“Where are we going?” Allura asked as Lance waved at her and she waved back.

“Anywhere but here,” Nyma grumbled as she pulled her down a cobbled side street.

The minute they were out of sight from the square Nyma let go of Allura’s arm and they fell into step besides each other.

Allura took this time to look around and just absorb everything, there was just so much going on! All different kinds of shops and buildings lined the street but one caught her eye.

She came to a stop outside of it and grabbed Nyma by the sleeve to stop her as well.

“What is it princess?” Nyma asked as she looked back at Allura.

“I need to go in there,” Allura said as she pointed at the shop, gazing into the shop which seemed filled to the brim with books. She didn’t even wait for Nyma to agree before pulling her in by the wrist.

A bell sounded their entrance and Allura paused at the door to take in the shelves stuffed to the brim with books and the towers of books that had been shoved in any of the free space. The shop had that old book smell to it that Allura loved and soon she was off, running her hand down the spines of the books as she looked for one that caught her interest.

Nyma followed after her and soon Allura found a book that got her attention. The title was scrawled in gold and the spine cracked, like it had been read many times before.  
She pulled it off the shelf and looked at the front cover which had the title written in the same gold ink, it read “The Legends of The Defender.” Allura plopped down onto the floor and Nyma leaned against the bookcase and looked down at her.

“Are you about to read that whole book right now?”

“Yep,” Allura said as she flipped open to the first page to show a picture of some odd looking human holding a big sword and standing in….was it space? Allura had barely read the first sentence when someone came out from behind one of the bookcases.

“Sorry lady, you gotta buy it if you want to read the whole thing,” said the newcomer, a girl with a large pair of glass and short hair that was sticking out everywhere.

“Oh um, sorry,” Allura said as she closed her book and looked up at Nyma to see her glancing at the door and looking ready to sprint out of the store, but now was not the time to worry about Nyma’s odd behavior. “How much is it?”

“Well it’s used so it’s only a few copper coins,” the girl said, crossing her arms, glancing over at Nyma, “Oh and I wouldn’t suggest running, I saw you when you came in Nyma. I’ve already called the guards.”

“Oh come on Katie-“

“I prefer Pidge.”

“Pidge please,” Nyma said, throwing her arms up in the air. “Just let me have a day of peace.”

“Do you really have any right to ask that?” Pidge asked, cocking her head to the side.

“Don’t act all high and might, I know you run and underground trading for illegal magical items,” Nyma said, pointing a finger at Pidge who only shrugged.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Oh come on-“

“Um, Pidge right,” Allura said, standing up and shoving her hand over Nyma’s mouth before she could bury herself into an even deeper hole. “I really need Nyma’s help.”

“Nyma’s helping you?” Pidge asked, a funny look on her face, like she was about to sneeze or something. 

“Yes, she’s helping me live out my dream, and I really need her for that. So could you maybe just let us leave, just let her get away this once?”

“Mmh, I don’t know,” Pidge said, tapping at her chin as she looked out the window.

“Listen how about this,” Nyma said, taking Allura’s hand away from her mouth and reaching into her pocket, “I’ll pay full price for this book for princess here and you let us go since I’m helping this birthday girl out.”

“It’s your birthday?” Pidge said, looking up at Allura with another funny look on her face. This one was different though, like Pidge was thinking really hard about something.

“Yep,” Allura said as she pressed the book to her chest. She couldn’t believe Nyma was buying the book for her, how nice!

“Huh,” Pidge said, the funny look still on her face as she held out her hand. “Deal.”

Nyma dropped two silver coins in Pidge’s hand before grabbing Allura’s shoulders and leading her out the store.

“It was nice to meet you Pidge,” Allura said, waving back at Pidge who slowly waved back before calling something out to them.

“Hey, I think you guys should maybe stop by the memorial for the princess and, you know, leave an offering or something.”

“Heh, yeah maybe,” Nyma said as she threw open the door and ran outside. “Oh man that was so close.”

“Thanks for the book Nyma,” Allura said as she slipped it into the bag, or well Nyma’s bag but she hadn’t noticed it yet.

“No problem,” Nyma said with a little smile that made Allura’s stomach flip. It was so much more different from the wide smiles Nyma used when trying to hide something, this one was so much more sincere. “Now then, let’s start walking around. No use coming to the festival if you’re not going to take part in the festivities.”

Allura wasn’t too sure what to say to that, but Nyma slung her arm around Allura her and guided her further down the street.

“Listen, there’s this greater baker just down the street here. They make the best cookies and cupcakes, you know, the good stuff. They have tarts with super flakey crust and they have these sugar things that practically melt in your mouth, oh and don’t even get me started on their cookies!”

Allura nodded her head at that, it was something she understood and agreed with. She never would’ve thought that there were people who baked treats and sold them to others. That sounded like a dream job to Allura, to be baking in the kitchen all day and selling her treats to people to put a smile on her face. Though she was beginning to feel that she was about to learn about all kinds of jobs today that would sound cool.

They walked down the cobbled street, past all the children playing and the people bartering with all the different food stalls. Allura’s eyes soon caught a sign on one of the buildings that read “Tasty Confectionery.”

“Oooh, is that the place you were talking about?” Allura said, tugging at Nyma’s arm and pointing up at the sign. The smell coming from the pace was heavenly and all the people that were coming out of the shop had a bag in their hand and a smile on their face.

“Yep,” Nyma said with a nod and Allura began to felt the anticipation build up inside of her as she thought about what kind of sweet she could get. The pastries had sounded good when Nyma had described them but then so had the cookies- “Which means that they place I need to stop by is right across the street,” Nyma said, pointing at some crumbling building that Allura could only describe as shady.

Allura felt her smile falter slightly as she watched Nyma head towards the creepy building. “Aren’t we going into the bakery?”

“No way, the food is great but it’s so expensive,” Nyma said with a shake of her head. “We can get the same stuff at other stalls for cheaper. I don’t exactly have a deep purse right now.” And as if to prove her point she pulled a small sack of her pocket and shook it. There were only a few tinkling coins in the bag.

“Awww, why’d you tell me about it then?” Allura asked as she crossed her arms. Nyma had practically been teasing her with all those mouthwatering descriptions of the treats they sold.

“I figured you’d want to know about all the best places in the kingdom for later. You know, when we part our separate ways. You aren’t going back to that tower, right?”

Oh yeah, that was right, Nyma and Allura were going to split up after the lanterns. Allura felt sadness tug at her stomach. She had kinda grown attached to Nyma after all the time they had spent together. Maybe Allura could convince Nyma to let her come along with her, she did want to see the orphanage that Nyma had grown up at.

“Uuuh, probably,” Allura said with a shrug, noticing how Nyma raised her brow at that before turning towards the creepy building.

“Well I have to stop in and talk to them about a debt I own, and you know, tie up some loose ends before I skip town,” Nyma said with a shrug. “I’ll be back in a few minutes since I’m guessing you don’t want to go in.”

“Nope.”

“Okay, I’ll see you back out here in a few minutes, and then I’ll get you something to eat. Whatever you want, within a reasonable price of course.”

Allura watched Nyma go in before turning back around to the bakery. The line inside the shop wasn’t too long; she could totally get through it before Nyma got back.

She headed into the shop and was instantly hit by the most delicious smell. She stepped into the line and within a few minutes there were about four other customers behind her and she was only one person away from ordering.

She had been spending those few minutes deciding what she wanted, and after much thought she had decided on one of the cute little cupcakes, surely they couldn’t be too expensive.

Reaching the front of the line she was greeted by a cheerful man with arms that must be the size of the large bags of flour that they used to cook.

“Hello, and welcome to Tasty Confectionery. What can I get for you today?” the man asked with a wide smile. 

“Can I have one of the strawberry cupcakes please,” Allura asked as she pointed at the tray that held them.

“Of course, that’ll be one silver,” the man said as he turned around to grab a cupcake.

Allura reached into the bag but only pulled up two copper coins, oh no, she didn’t know how silver and copper were converted but hopefully that would be enough.

The man returned with a cupcake in a bag and Allura offered the two copper coins with a shaky smile.

The guy took one look at the money she was offering and gave her a sympathetic smile. “I’m sorry miss but you’re three copper short.”

She heard Coran scuttle out from behind her hair and knew he must be trying to stare down the nice baker. Time for damage control before there was any damage to be had.

“Oh, well I’m sorry for holding up the line, your baked goods look lovely though,” Allura said, hoping her smile didn’t betray her and showed how disappointed she was.

She saw the man glance back in the kitchen before setting down the bag and reaching for something in a nearby basket. She didn’t have time to see what was in his hand before he was grabbing hers and shaking it.

“That’s so nice of you, I’m hope you’re able to come back again sometime and buy something. Maybe on a Sunday when we’re getting rid of some of our old stock. Just ask for me, my name’s Hunk by the way.”

“Oh, um okay,” Allura said as she slid her hand out of his and felt something clutched in her hand. Had he slipped her something?

“Well, have a good day,” Hunk said as he waved after her and she stepped out of the line and headed out the door.

She waved back at him with her empty hand as she slipped whatever he had given her into her bag to look at later.

Exiting the shop and back into the bustling street she saw no sign of Nyma so she decided to wander around the square for a second. She noticed how there seemed to be a group gathering around a wall off to the side.

Walking over, she tried to peek over everyone’s shoulders to get a look at whatever was catching their attention.

She eventually found a spot between two mothers holding their children and saw that they were all staring at some mosaic. 

It was beautifully made and appeared to be depicting a family. There was a man and a woman, both with dark skin and dark hair and in the woman’s hand there was a baby. While the baby had the same dark skin as he parents there was something that stood out about them, their stark white hair.

Allura couldn’t help but reach up and tug at hers unconsciously. Was white hair common? She knew those who were older started growing white hairs but were there younger people with white hair like her?

She felt Coran tap at her cheek. Looking down at him she saw that he seemed to be staring hard at the mosaic. When he noticed that he had gotten her attention he pointed at the mosaic before pointing back at her.

“What are you trying to say Coran?” Allura asked though she had a funny feeling in her gut that she knew what he was trying to get at.

Before Coran could try and tell her what he wanted to say a hand came down on Allura’s shoulder causing her to jump slightly.

“Oh sorry princess, didn’t mean to scare you,’” Nyma said as she took her hand off Allura’s shoulder. “I just wanted to tell you that I’m finished with the business I had with that guy-“

“Oh.”

“And,” Nyma said as she took a hand from behind her back and held out a single cupcake to Allura, “I got you something. I know it isn’t from the fancy bakery but I figured it was something.”

“Oh, thanks Nyma,” Allura said with a smile as she took the cupcake, feeling something swell in her chest.

“No problem, I promised you I’d get you something.

At the mention of the sweets and the bakery Allura suddenly remembered how Hunk had slipped something in her hand. Shoving the cupcake back into Nyma’s hand, who sputtered in confusion, she opened the bag and pulled out a paper bag which when she looked inside held a single cookie. It looked like Hunk had slipped her a treat, how nice of him.

“What’s that?” Nyma asked as tried to look over at what Allura was holding.

Allura switched the cupcake for the paper bag. “I have something for you as well,” she said with a smile as she unwrapped her cupcake.

Nyma raised her brow at this but looked inside the bag. Her face lit up when she saw what was inside.

“Aww you got me a cookie, thanks princess!”

Allura felt her face warm, what was going on with her? Was she starting to get sick?

“Come on, let’s go to the main square,” Nyma said as she threw her arm around Allura’s shoulder as she used her free hand to hold her cookie. “They should be starting a chalk mural soon; I think you might be interested in it considering all those paintings you had in the tower.”

Nyma remembered that? “Oh yeah, I love drawing and painting.”

“Well than this will be just for you,” Nyma said with a smile and those darn butterflies were back in Allura’s stomach. There was no way that she could actually….like Nyma was there?

She didn’t think on it much longer as they came to the square and Allura saw they chalk laying on the ground and some citizens laying on the ground drawing whatever they wanted.

Allura smiled as she went over and grabbed a few pieces of chalk before plopping herself down in an empty spot and got to work. She loved how the chalk felt in her hand and how it looked as she drew over the pavement. 

Coran jumped off her shoulder at one point and began putting his input in as she drew one of the flowers from one of Mother’s books.

At one point she glanced over at Nyma who was leaning against the wall with Voltron standing next to her. The two seemed to be arguing, at least as well as a human and horse could argue when Nyma glanced over at her and, upon noticing her gaze, smile at her.

Allura smiled back as she felt her stomach turn to jelly. Oh, wow, when had all of this even happened?


	11. The Festival Part 2

Nyma couldn’t help but smile as she watched Allura make her drawing. That annoying horse, Voltron, had appeared beside her a few moments ago and had been bugging her since. Now she could feel the darn thing smirking at her for smiling over at Allura, and yes, Nyma knows a horse can’t smirk but listen, this one could.

She glanced over at it with a glare but all it did was nicker back at her, and listen, it sounded like chuckle Nyma swears to god it did. 

Huffing she crossed her arms and looked back over at Allura. A few kids had joined her and were helping her draw the flower. It looked really nice, and at least Allura looked like she was having fun.

From what she had gathered about Allura’s life in that tower was that her mother had to be super controlling and honestly it didn’t seem like a very safe environment for Allura to go back to. She could practically feel the tickets weighing down her pocket, and her conscious. They had been an impulse decision, but it seemed like the right one at the time.

She had two train tickets that were set to take the holders about two kingdoms over. She had always planned on escaping to another kingdom for a while and she was now toying with the idea of offering Allura a way out from her mother. It was a way for her to go exploring the world, which she had mentioned she was interesting in, and it was certainly better than her going back to that tower.

She happened to notice a vendor selling all different kinds of trinkets and tokens with the kingdom’s symbol on it, a sun. Pushing off the wall she walked over the cart and looked at some of the smaller stuff before a handkerchief caught her eye. It was a deep purple and the bright yellow sun shined in the center.

Nyma handed the vendor a silver coin and picked up the handkerchief, surprised to see that it seemed to be some kind of silky material. She hoped Allura would like it.

She went back to her spot on the wall and did her best to ignore Voltron. Once Allura was finished she walked over to Nyma, a smile on her face, a smudge of chalk on her cheek and a line of children following after her like she was their new big sister.

“You got a little something on your cheek princess,” Nyma said as she pointed at her own cheek to help Allura out.

“Oh, thanks,” Allura said as she brushed of the chalk before turning back to the kids behind her. “Why don’t you all go and add some more flowers to the big one we drew.”

They all agreed before running off with Allura watching them go.

“You’re pretty good with kids,” Nyma said as she pulled the gift out of her pocket.

“It’s my first time really interacting with any but yeah,” Allura said with a shrug. “I do get kinda nervous around them though, I don’t know what to do when they follow after me.”

Nyma laughed at that before offering her the handkerchief. “Here something, to remember this festival by.”

“Thanks Nyma,” Allura said as she held it up. “But you’ve already gotten me so much-“

“Eh,” Nyma said, holding up her hand, “You’re the birthday girl here, you deserve all kinds of gifts.”

“I guess,” Allura said. Nyma was about to say something else when music began to fill the air and even more people began to show up to the square. It looked like there was about to be a dance.

As a small band formed, some people joined in from off the streets, taking out their instruments from who knows where and beginning to play a lively mesh of tunes from all the different notes they were playing.

Nyma watched Allura from the corner of the eye and felt a smile cross her face as she saw Allura’s face brighten as people began to form a large crowd full of dancing.

She felt Allura pull at her hand and watched as she pointed over at the crowd.

“Let’s dance,” she said, already pulling them over before Nyma could so much as answer.

“Do you know what you’re doing?” Nyma asked as the two of them reached the edge of the circle. Nyma bowed and Allura followed right after her.

Nyma was reaching for Allura’s hand when the dancers must’ve switched as someone looped their arm through Nyma’s and she was beginning pulled into the crowd as Allura was pulled in another direction.

Nyma kept an eye on Allura for a few minutes, but once she realized that Allura seemed perfectly happy dancing around Nyma let herself let loose for just a few moments. She let herself flow around the circle, dancing with strangers who hopefully didn’t realize they were dancing with a wanted criminal.

A few times she and Allura passed close enough to each other to be partners but every time they began to reach out for the other’s hand it was snatched away by someone else and they were left to look at it each other with a shrug and the unspoken promise to get in at least one dance.

They finally got their chance as the music swelled and they were twirled practically into each other’s arms.

Allura smiled at her as she grabbed Nyma’s hands and began to twirl them around with a wide smile on her face. Part of her hair had fallen out of her braid, and her face was flushed. She looked absolutely radiant to Nyma.

Their chests were pressed together that when Allura laughed just out of pure giddiness Nyma felt it against her chest.

As the song came to an end and someone cried out “To the boats,” Nyma realized something. She hadn’t felt this happy in a long time, this carefree and just happy to be alive.

The two came to a stop but Allura didn’t take her hands out of Nyma’s as she watched as everyone headed to the boats. 

She looked up at Nyma with that same wide smile that had been on her face since the start of the dance. “It’s finally time! I get to see the lights!”

Nyma just smiled as Allura slipped one of her hands free but kept the other tight around Nyma’s. “Let’s get you to a boat.”

She let Allura lead them to the docks and when they got there Nyma dropped her last silver coin into the boat renter’s hand and the two got into their boat.

The chameleon hopped off of Allura’s shoulder and perched itself on the bow of the boat, looking out onto the water where all the boats were beginning to fill.

The horse showed up at the docks and Allura waved after them as Nyma rowed them out into the water.

“I can’t wait,” Allura said as she stared out at the water, her back turned to Nyma but she didn’t need to see Allura to know that there was pure excitement on her face as she waited for the lanterns to begin to fill the sky.

As Nyma pulled a lantern out from under her seat she couldn’t help but feel her heart melt as she saw Allura clap her hands when she saw the lantern.

Oh no, Nyma might have a problem if her heart was starting to go all mushy for this girl. Though she supposed there were worse fates then falling in love, even if she knew deep down it would never work.


	12. The Floating Lights

Allura could hardly contain herself as Nyma stopped paddling once they reached the edge of a large circle of boats. She stopped trying once Nyma pulled out one of the lanterns that were released into the night sky and handed it to her.

“It wouldn’t be the full experience without putting out your own lantern,” Nyma said with a smile that made Allura’s whole face light up.

“Thank you,” she said in a hushed voice as she stared down at the purple light in her hand with one of the kingdom’s symbols on it.

“Did I ever tell you the full story about this?” Nyma asked her as Coran skittered off from his spot and onto her shoulder.

“You said something about a missing princess I believe,” Allura said as she traced her finger over the sun symbol, for some reason it seemed eerily familiar to her.

“Yeah, but there’s actually a whole story about it,” Nyma said. Allura looked up at her and saw how Nyma seemed a bit off, almost like she was nervous.

“What is it then?” Allura asked, hoping that it would help Nyma get pass what was holding her back.

“The queen, you see, she got really sick during her pregnancy, like deathly sick. In the last three months of her pregnancy she was bedridden and doctors were talking about neither her nor the baby making it.”

“Oh no,” Allura said, covering her mouth in shock. “How horrible.” To think that they still lost their child after what sounded like a hard pregnancy just seemed to make the whole thing even more awful.

“Well you see the king started to get really worried so he started to search all over for something that could help his wife. He read about this flower that could cure any illness and could give whoever had it the potential for immortality or a second chance at life. He and his guards set out to find this flower. They searched all over the kingdom and eventually they found it.”

The flower sounded really interesting to Allura since it reminded her a bit about her hair and it’s abilities, how odd.

“However there was some kind of witch guarding it, they managed to get the flower but the king’s most trusted advisor got, well cursed I supposed no one really knows what happened to him only that he got hit with something by the witch and just disappeared.”

Allura felt Coran tug at her sleeve and glanced down at him. He was staring up at her and pointing at himself…for some odd reason, maybe he was excited about the story or something but whatever it was she couldn’t really get what he was trying to say.

“But the king had the flower so he took it back to the castle doctors and they turned it into some kind of medicine and gave it to the queen who made a miraculous recovery. The princess was born perfectly healthy, besides some crazy hair but they figured it was just a side effect of the flower.”

Huh, something about this story seemed a bit strange to Allura, thought she couldn’t quite place her finger on what it was. Maybe it had something to do with the flower and the princess having the same hair color as her.

“The kingdom was happy that everything had gone well, but the happiness didn’t last long. A few days after the princess’s birth she was kidnapped by the witch.” Nyma went quiet for a few seconds as she stared down hard at the bottom of the boat before her eyes widened like she had figured something out. Allura was about to ask what was wrong when Nyma quickly finished up the story.

“And so the kingdom started lighting these lanterns and sending them into the sky on the princess’s birthday to hopefully help her find her way home,” Nyma said before shoving her hands down on either side of her and staring hard at Allura. Coran was still tugging on her sleeve and honestly both of their weird behavior was kind of throwing her off. Was there something they both knew and were waiting for her to get? Did she have something on her face?

Nyma gave up on staring her down after a few seconds. “The lanterns are about to start. Do you want me to light the lantern for you?”

Allura agreed and handed the lantern back to Nyma for a few seconds who handed it back once she had lighted it, she was glad that her friends seemed to be back to normal.

The sun finally slipped behind the horizon and there were only a few streaks of color left in the sky when the first lantern was set off into the sky, according to Nyma it was always the Kind and Queen that released the first lantern.

Her grip on the lantern in her own hand loosened as she watched numerous others float into the sky after the first. Slowly she lifted her lantern up and pushed it up into the sky to join with the hundreds of others illuminating the night sky. The sight was just breathtaking. It was nothing compared to what she had seen from the tower.

Everything was just so much more bright and festive as she watched the light from the lanterns dance across the water she decided this was one of the most beautiful things she had ever seen.

She watched as the purple lanterns light up the night sky like stars dancing so close to earth. Smiling softly she leaned her elbow onto the edge of the boat and watched the lanterns float up into the sky in a steady stream before new ones were no longer being added and there was simply a large mass of light in the sky, like one giant star.

She spared a glance over at Nyma and noticed how the other girl didn’t seem to be watching the lights, but rather Allura. Nyma must’ve realized she had been spotted though when she asked Allura, “So, is it everything you’d imagine it to be?”

Allura let out a small huff of air before nodding and turning her head to face Nyma. “Yes and more, it’s just so beautiful.”

“Yeah,” Nyma said, still not looking at the sky.

Allura tilted her head slightly as her smile widened. “What about you? How is this measuring up to any of your previous visits?”

Nyma seemed to contemplate this question for a minute. “I don’t know, this is the first time I’ve actually gone all out and didn’t just watch it for a minute or two. It was….really nice having someone watch them with me.”

“That’s nice,” Allura said as she watched Nyma shift in her seat.

“So, after seeing all of this…are you going back to the tower?” Nyma asked as she shifted closer to Allura.

“I don’t-no I’m not,” Allura said, almost surprised with herself how easy it had been to say no, she wasn’t going back to that place.

“Then I guess you’ll be needing a way to start your traveling,” Nyma said as she stuck her hand into one of her pockets.

“I guess I will-but I’ll cross that bridge when I get there,” Allura said with a shrug.

“What if-what if I told you that I have a train ticket to the kingdom over?”

That made Allura pause for a second. “I would say I’m not sure I believe you.”

“Well,” Nyma said as she pulled her hand out of her pocket to reveal a train ticket, “I do in fact have one, and it’s for you. Think of it as a sendoff for not turning me into the authorities or anything. Unless we row back to shore and the guards are waiting for me then I take this all back.”

Allura was speechless for a few good seconds as her brain processed everything. Nyma had gotten her a train ticket?! A smile crossed her face as she leaned forward and threw her arms around Allura, pulling her in for a quick hug. “Oh, thank you, thank you, thank you.”

“Uh yeah, it’s uh, it’s no problem,” Nyma said, her voice slightly squeaky when she first spoke for some reason.

Allura pulled back from the hug and smiled at Nyma as she took the offered ticket.

“Really, thank you so much I don’t know how I could ever repay you.”

“Uh, no need, you um-you have uh, well,” Nyma said seeming to space out as she stared at Allura’s face. The stare made Allura’s checks heat up for a second before Nyma looked away, rubbing the back of her neck and coughing. “Yep no need to repay me. Why don’t we start heading back to shore? You’re going to need to get some rest before your big train ride tomorrow.”

“If you say so,” Allura said as she went back to watching as the lights slowly floated further and further away as Nyma began to row them back to shore. Allura felt content. She was getting her freedom, and Nyma had given her the best birthday present she had ever gotten.


	13. Betrayal?

Nyma had figured it out on the boat when she had told Allura the story of the lost princess. Allura was without a doubt the lost princess, and Nyma needed to figure out how she was going to break this to Allura and manage to get her back to the king and queen without getting herself arrested.

When the lights had ended she had rowed them over to the shore across from the kingdom. She was still kinda freaking out about how she had almost kissed Allura but that was for a different time. Now she needed to deal with getting the lost princess back to where she belonged.

She had given Allura a train ticket, maybe she could send Allura off on her adventure and then leave an anonymous tip that there was someone matching the missing princess’s description a kingdom over. Hopefully it would give Allura a little time to explore before she was taken back to the castle. Though if Allura was taken back to the castle there was a chance she would be trapped just like she had been before, but in a more metaphorical sense rather than literal.

It was a hard choice. She knew that if Allura was the lost princess she should have a right to be reunited with her parents, even if Allura hadn’t seemed to understand what Nyma had tried to get at towards the end of the story.

They bumped the shore and Nyma climbed out, holding her hand out for Allura since the rocky beach was kinda slippery.

She almost hadn’t noticed the movement further down the shore, but she just managed to catch it from the corner of her eye. It was two figures, one tall and skinny and one shorter and stockier. She felt deep in her gut that she knew who they were, and if she was correct she needed to go over to them and sort everything out.

Nyma was about to make some excuse to move further down the shore when she felt Allura’s hand on her shoulder.

“Listen, um, Nyma I just wanted to give you this back,” Allura said as she held out the satchel that she had been carrying around all day. “It’s, uh, it’s yours.”

“Wait,” Nyma said as she looked closer and realized it was her own satchel. “Is that-“

“Yeah, it’s the crown, I was just….worried that if you got it you’d just leave me but-after everything we’ve been through I feel like I can trust you, and I want you to have it back since it seems like we’ll be parting ways.”

“I wouldn’t say that,” Nyma said with a small smile as she felt the other train ticket weigh heavily in her pocket. She reached out and took the offered bag, slinging it around her shoulder, now at least she had an even better bartering chip. “I think you might be surprised with what I have planned.”

“Oh is that so?” Allura asked with an eyebrow raised.

“Yep, but uh first, I really need to finish something,” Nyma said before turning around and heading off towards her old partners. She was ending this.

“Hey Rolo, hey Beezer,” she called once she was closer to them. The tree line was blocking them from Allura’s view. “I know we kinda got split up back there and I just wanted to apologize for leaving you-“

“More like abandoning us,” Rolo spit, crossing his arms and staring down hard at her. Beezer just looked anxious as he wrung his hands and looked between the two of them.

“Yeah well I’m sorry-well partially sorry. Anyway, I wanted to make it up to you by giving you this,” Nyma said as she pulled out the crown and held it out to them. Yes she could really use the money to help Ms. Curtis and the kids, but right now she needed this off her so she could travel with Allura. Maybe she could find an actual job and start earning money that way.

“What?” Rolo said as he stared down at the crown.

“This crown we stole, it’s all yours. I don’t need it anymore so you guys can have it. I’ll miss all the rambunctious adventures we had but-“ Nyma spared a glance in the direction that she had left Allura, “I think it’s for the best.” 

She shoved the crown into Beezer’s hands before beginning to back away. “Well sayonara, nice knowing you guys-“

“Wait,” Rolo said, reaching out and grabbing Nyma’s shoulder. “You’re holding out on us Nyma.”

“What? Me? No, you guys got the crown and I got nothing,” Nyma said as she tried to weasel her way out of his grip to no avail.

“We heard from someone that you’ve got something much more expensive,” Rolo said with a wicked grin. “Or should I say someone.”

Nyma felt her blood run cold. “You stay the hell away from her you damn-“

The last thing Nyma saw was Rolo’s fist on a path right for her path. Everything went dark.

/////

Allura was beginning to worry. Nyma had walked out into the night a long time ago and still hadn’t come back. Allura knew she should trust her, especially after she had told Nyma that just a few minutes ago. But it was hard when Nyma had gone off with the crown. Though Nyma had also been hinting that she would be going along with Allura on this trip so there was no way she was just going to abandon her, right?

She was about to go after Nyma herself when she saw a dark figure coming towards her form the fog. “Oh Nyma, you scared me I thought you weren’t coming back,” Allura said as she let out a breath. She felt ten times better now.

“Oh dear” came a voice that was most definitely not Nyma’s and made her heart stop, “That’s because that thief isn’t coming back to you.”

Mother emerged from the shadows, a dark taunting look on her face that just screamed at Allura “I was right!”

“What are you talking about?” Allura asked as she took a step back from the women.

“That little thief you seem to like so much, well she’s run off with the crown and left you behind,” Mother said as she closed the gap between her and Allura all while shaking her head sadly.

“Wha- Nyma would never,” Allura said, bristling instantly at the accusation. 

“Just look for yourself,” Mother said with a wicked grin crossing her face as she pointed out to the water.

Through the fog Allura could make out a makeshift boat floating away with someone at the helm, thought she couldn’t really tell who it was through the fog but the person did look to be around Nyma’s height and build.

“Nyma! Nyma!” Allura yelled, scrambling over the rocks and farther away from Mother as she tried to get Nyma’s attention, or find where Nyma actually was since the person wasn’t looking back at her.

“Nyma!” she yelled one last time before running right into something solid. Stumbling back she saw that she had run into one of the men that had been running after Nyma and her yesterday at the mine.

“Pretty good trade don’t you think,” the man said, staring down at Allura with an eerily smile that her scramble back from him. “A crown for a girl who can keep someone young forever.”

No, there was no way Nyma had sold her out. She took another step back as the man reached out for her, raising her arms up to block an attack only for none to come. Instead she watched as the man fell to the ground and his companion standing with a piece of wood in his hands.

He looked over at her, holding up his hands to stop her when she was about to make a run for it. “I never wanted to be involved in all of this even when I went along with all of his plans,” he said, pointing down at the taller man on the ground. “But I had to draw the line at kidnapping a girl. Listen Nyma didn’t leave you behind your mom-“

The man never got to finish his sentence before a loud thunk filled the air and he fell to the ground next to his companion. Behind the man was Mother with a small rock clutched in her hand.

“Oh Allura dear are you alright?” Mother asked as she dropped the rock to the ground and headed to Allura with open arms. Allura tried to slip away but Mother wrapped her arms around Allura like a snake and squeezed her far too tight to her chest.

Allura knew that she was trapped and that there was little chance she’d be able to slip away from Mother. But the train ticket was still clutched in her hand and she had her first taste of freedom and she had no plans of being locked up again. She just needed to come up with a plan and if that meant playing nice with Mother for a little bit longer she could do it despite the sour taste it brought to her mouth. 

Once Mother had let go of her and began leading her back to the tower like a sheep Allura shoved the ticket down the front of her dress. She sent one last look at whom she could only assume to be Nyma floating away from her. She really wanted to believe that this was all some big misunderstanding, and if that one guy had been telling the truth than something was going on, and Mother was right in the center of it all.

So as Allura and Mother disappeared deeper and deeper into the woods Allura vowed to somehow meet up with Nyma again and clear everything up. She just needed to.


	14. The Realization

Nyma slowly gained consciousness back. It first started when she began to hear the sound of water hitting against something, and then something hard hitting something else, and then finally her vision began to filter back in until she realized she was tied up.

“What the-“ she muttered as she looked over at her one arm and saw that both of her wrists were tied to the wheel of boat and that she was even tied around the middle to the mast of the boat.

“Rolo that bastard,” she muttered as she tried to figure out how to get out of this. She was by the docks of the kingdom and the morning sun was only just peeking over the horizon. Maybe she still had time until the guards found her.

“There’s the thief Nyma!” Shit never mind scratch that, she was screwed.

When she saw the first guard coming for her it all came back and hit her in the face. Rolo’s threat towards Allura and how she had the crown tied to his hand, oh crap she really was screwed. Wait, shit was Allura in danger? Did that damn women catch her and drag her back to the tower? Or did Rolo and Beezer capture her and take her off somewhere. She needed to tell the guards what she knew.

“Listen, listen,” she said to the guard standing at the edge of the dock and staring down at her with his sword pointed at her as if the wasn’t tied up, “There’s a girl with like super long hair out in the forest back there and she’s in a lot of trouble-“

“Be quit Nyma,” came a new voice that belonged to the captain. Oh no, Shiro and her didn’t have the best track record. “Stop trying to trick my men, you aren’t getting out of this.”

“Yeah I get that but you have to listen to me,” she pleaded, she would’ve even clasped her hands together for full effect if it hadn’t been for all the rope. “Out in those woods the lost princess is being held captive by this crazy lady-whom I assume is the witch from the story but-“

“Stop weaving this nonsense,” Shiro said as he hoped into the boat with two other guards and pointed at the ropes around her. “Cut her from her restraints and lead her to the dungeons.”

“Please you have to believe me!” Nyma cried, struggling against the ropes because they just had to believe her! “The lost princess is out in those woods and she’s in danger!”

“Silence,” Shiro said as the final rope fell from off her and the ropes were replaced with a set of handcuffs. The crown was handed over to another guard and Shiro took her by the arm. “You can’t get out of this; it’s time to pay for your crimes.”

“Please, you have to believe me,” Nyma pleaded only for her pleas to fall on deaf ears. She was dragged towards the dungeons and with each step she felt sicker and sicker to her stomach. Allura needed her help, whether if it was to get away from Nyma’s previous partners or from that witch, it didn’t matter, Nyma couldn’t help but feel a sick sense of guilt for leaving Allura alone on that beach.

They descended down steep steps and into the dimly lit dungeons. Nyma could hear the loud ravings and jeers from the other inmates as she was escorted down the tight hallway. Her eyes passed over some of the cells, looking at those inside, never letting emotion pass over her face as if she was accepting her fate until she caught sight of one cell.

She was glad that Shiro had left her to two younger guards before they had gone into the cells because she never would’ve even tried what she did next. Knocking herself roughly against the one guard she pushed his down to the ground before turning to the other one and knocking her head against his.

The guard stumbled backwards and Nyma used this as an opportunity to run past them and towards the cell that held Rolo and Beezer. Ignore the dull pain that was thumping through her head after hitting that guard.

“Where is she?!” Nyma hissed as she pressed herself as close as she could to the bars. They had been her best bet for who had Allura but here they were, stuck in the same mess as her.

Rolo barely looked her way but Beezer seemed ready to give her the answer. “We don’t know. That old lady knocked us out-she was the one who told us about the girl in the first place.”

“Old lady,” Nyma muttered under her breath as she felt worry course through every vein in her body. That witch had gotten Allura, and Nyma could only hope that Allura was holding her own. Though based on everything she had seen Allura do over the course of two days she had little doubt that Allura couldn’t fight her own battles. But escaping from a manipulative witch who’s pretended to be your mom for years might be kinda hard.

Nyma didn’t have much more time to think anything over before the guards were grabbing a shoulder each and pulling her away from the cell.

“Don’t make us call the captain down here on you,” the one grumbled before roughly shoving her down the hall.

The walked down a little bit further until they reached the end of the hall where a door stood between them and the next section of cells, apparently Nyma needed a higher security cell than her old companions.

“Open up,” the one guard said and the little wooden slat on the door slid open to reveal a familiar face.

“Password?” Ezor asked with a giggle. What the heck was going on?

“What is the meaning of this?” the other guard asked as Ezor tisked at his answer.

“Sorry, that’s not the password,” Ezor said before slamming the slat shut.

“Wha-open the door!” one guard cried as Nyma felt the other guard’s hand leave her shoulder. Glancing over to the side she saw that he had disappeared into thin air. Looking up at the rafters she saw Narti crouching on one, with the one guard knocked out and slung over one of the rafters. 

The other guard finally seemed to realize that his coworker had went missing but it was too late for him. Narti reached down and pulled him up to the rafters, hitting his head against one of the rafters knocking him out as well.

Narti jumped down from the rafters and Ezor opened up the door.

“Well come on now, start your jailbreak,” Ezor said as she pointed her thumb behind her. “Don’t want the guards to catch on now do we?”

“Okay but why are you helping me?” Nyma asked because there had to be some kind of catch to this.

“Narti overheard you telling the guards how Allura was in trouble, since we figured it be quicker to just get you out of here instead of trying to find her in the forest ourselves we came and helped you. But just know you’d be sitting in a jail cell right now if it weren’t for the fact that we like Allura,” Ezor said as she pointed a threatening finger at her.

Nyma held up her hands. “Well, uh, thanks.” She didn’t waste much time running past the two and down the hall.

She did hear Ezor call after her. “Acxa is holding off the other guards and Zethrid is waiting to help you out in the courtyard.”

Nyma made a mental note to head to the courtyard before speeding off down the hall, happy to see that Acxa was in fact holding off the guards. However when she took a sharp turn that she hoped would lead her out to the courtyard she came face to face with someone that probably hated her the most out of any of the guards she could’ve run into.

“Stop right there Nyma,” Keith said as he stepped out in front of her, drawing his sword and pointing it right at her chest.

Nyma skidded to a stop and cursed her dumb luck. “Please Keith, buddy, we can talk this out-“

“You’re a criminal who should rightfully be locked up. I’m not letting you get away.”

“Are you still upset about that one thing?” Nyma asked, though she already knew the answer to her question.

“Yes I’m still pissed about you tying my boyfriend to a tree and robbing him blind-“

“Wait boyfriend, aww you guys finally got together how nice. Speaking of having a loved one be in potential danger I kinda really need you to let me out-“

“I’m not listening to one of your made up stories Nyma, I’m taking you back to the cells.”

“Keith, Keith, listen please,” Nyma pleaded. “I need to save this girl, and listen I know this sounds crazy but I’m like ninety percent sure she’s the lost princess.”

That made Keith pause for a second. “Shit.”

“Yeah see it’s important that-“

“No I’m saying shit because Pidge was literally talking about how she thought she saw you walk into her store with someone that she thought was the lost princess. Shit I can’t believe this!”

“See, you have a good reliable friend who thinks the same thing as I do and listen, the princess is in trouble and I’m the fastest way to help her,” Nyma said, hoping she could somehow reason with Keith.

Keith seemed to be having a whole metal dilemma over the matter so Nyma tried to soften the deal. “Hey, I’ll even turn myself back in after I make sure she’s safe.” That was a false statement but maybe he’d believe it.

“I know you’re not going to turn yourself in Nyma-“

Shit.

“But against my better judgement,” Keith said with a sigh as he put away his sword and pulled out a pair of keys. “I’m going to let you pass me.”

“Holy shit really?” Nyma asked as Keith unlocked her cuffs and they fell to the ground with a thud. 

He shoved the keys into her hand and just nodded. “Get out of here before I change my mind.”

“Thanks Keith I owe you one!” Nyma cried as she ran past him. Maybe Keith had dug down real deep inside him and remembered the times they had both been under Ms. Curtis’s care, at least until Keith was adopted. But maybe, just maybe, Keith decided to help her out for old time’s sakes. Though she highly doubted it.

She managed to make her way to courtyard through the tangled mess of corridors and standing out there was Zethrid next to what looked like a rudimentary see-saw.

“Get on,” Zethrid said, pointing to one end of the odd see-saw. “Crouch down and tuck your knees in.”

Nyma listened and hesitantly stepped onto it, worried about what was to come next. She hadn’t expected Zethrid to back herself up to the wall and then run full sprint at her before jumping up into the air and landing hard onto the other side of the piece of wood. Nyma went flying through the air and as she flew she reevaluated all her life choice because she was pretty sure she was going to die.

However she ended up landing in a very sticky bush and was pretty much unscathed. Scrambling out of the bush she headed to the quickest path to the woods, hoping that she could make to the tower before anything could happen to Allura.

She ended up running into a bit of a roadblock, one that was horse shaped.

“Come on you have to let me through!” Nyma said as she skidded to a halt. She didn’t need this right now.

The horse, Voltron that was what its name was right, just stared down at Nyma before gesturing to its saddle with it’s head.

“Wait, you want me to get on your back?” Nyma asked, hardly believing when the horse seemed to nod. “O-okay.” Nyma managed to climb onto the horse’s saddle and before she could even get comfortably situated the horse stared running.

“O-okay,” Nyma said as she gripped to the reins. “Let’s go find Allura!” Nyma cried before took down the path that she remembered lead her to the tower.

/////

“Now wash up dear,” Mother said, her sugary sweet voice back at full force as if the past forty eight hours hadn’t happened. “We’re having hazelnut soup.”

Allura grimaced but tried to keep the peace. She had no plans of staying up in this tower but first she was going to need Mother to loosen her grip on her, and that meant obeying the women like a little dog. She hated it.

As she washed her hands in the wash-bin she looked into the mirror and stared hard at her reflection. She felt older than she had two days ago.

Coran ran out from behind the cover of her hair and plopped himself down onto the wash-bin, staring up at her. He wanted to tell her something she just knew it, but it seemed he hadn’t been able how to convey his message to her. Maybe it had something to do with what he had been trying to tell her the other day.

It had something to do with the royal family mosaic and the story Nyma had told her….speaking of Nyma, Allura wondered what-no, nope she needed to focus on something else right now. Both were connected to the royal family somehow. She knew that she and the lost princess seemed to share similar characteristics, but maybe white hair was more common than she had thought. Though she hadn’t really seen any other younger people with white hair…

And the story did seem to have some kind of eerie similarities with her if she thought about it. It’s not like she and Mother had any similar features, and Mother had never talked of her father. Plus it did seem kind of odd that Mother never wanted her to leave the tower despite her trip outside had proved to her there was little danger out there, and that perhaps Mother was the most threat to her.

There was no way that she could-there was no way-could there?

Allura looked harder into the mirror, leaning closer to her reflection as she gripped the sides of the wash-bin. She had always felt like there were puzzle pieces missing in her life-could it be because her entire life so far had been a lie?

“Am-am I the lost princess?” Allura asked in a hush whisper, to no one exactly, but she did get an answer.

Coran began to jump up and down and nod his vigorously. How he knew the answer to this question Allura didn’t know but she believed him.

“I’m the lost princess,” she whispered feeling as if all the air had been sucked out of her lungs in one swell swoop.

“What was that dear?” came Mother’s sickly sweet voice from the doorway; thought venom could be heard seeping through. She was still angry over Allura’s betrayal as she had phrased it numerous times on the way back to the tower. “You know I hate it when you mumble.”

Allura felt a sense of courage and strength wash over her as all this new information swirled around in her brain, she had no reason to feel any sense of attachment to this woman who was her kidnapper. “I said I’m the lost princess, did I mumble this time Mother?” Allura asked, a sneer crossing her face as she finished. The shock and fear crossing Mother’s face gave Allura a sense of satisfaction. It was finally her who was scurrying like Allura had been forced to do for all of these years.

However, Mother recovered quicker than Allura ever had. “Allura do you hear yourself? What kind of ridiculous question is that?” Mother said with hallow laughter. “Now come down so we can eat dinner-“

“I’m not eating dinner with you, nor am I going to be spending one more minute in this miserable tower with you,” Allura said as she drew her shoulders back and took a step closer to Mother. “I’m leaving.”

“Wha-Allura please stop with this-“

“It was you,” Allura spit as she jabbed a finger out at Mother. “You stole me from my parents and have kept me locked up here like some bird for years! All so you could stay young!”

“Everything I’ve ever done is to protect you,” Mother said, reaching out to try and hug Allura but Allura pushed her away.

“Don’t touch me,” she said, trying to push past Mother and make her way down the stairs to leave. Coran had jumped back onto her arm and had scurried up to hide behind her hair.

Allura stormed down the stairs, barely listening to Mother coming down behind her. “I’ve spent my entire life hiding from people who would hurt me-“

“Allura please!”

“But I should’ve been hiding from you!” Allura finished as Mother reached out and grabbed onto her arm.

“Where will you go?” Mother demanded, fear in her voice, she was scared that her potion of youth was going to leave her. “You don’t have the thief waiting for you; she’s going to be dead by nightfall.”

“Wh-what have you done to Nyma?” Allura asked, whirling around and for the first time since the start of this argument Allura was the one back to being scared with Mother holding the upper hand.

A sneer crossed Mother’s face. “She’s to be hanged for her crimes. I did ensure that she would be captured before she could help you and give you false hope of freedom. Because you see Allura, you’re never leaving this tower. I won’t allow it.”

“I don’t care, I get to decide whether I want to stay here and guess what, I don’t,” Allura said, trying to find some control again. She couldn’t let this shake her. Maybe if she got back to the kingdom in time and convinced he parents that she was truly who she said she was then maybe she could stop the hanging from happening, she hoped.

“Allura listen to me,” Mother said, exasperation in her voice as she reached out to pat Allura’s head. “You’re acting demented.”

Allura grabbed Mother’s hand and stopped it before it could touch her head. “Don’t.”

Mother paused, once again surprised by Allura’s defiance of her.

“You’re wrong about the world, everything you’ve ever told me has been I lie. I won’t stay in this blasted tower for another second and I won’t let you keep me trapped, and I will never let you use my hair again.”

Allura shoved Mother’s hand away from her and whirled around to leave only for Mother to reach out and grab her arm in a death grip.

“You’re not leaving,” Mother growled as her grip tightened so hard on Allura’s arm it felt like her circulation was being cut off. “You wanted me to be the bad guy, so I’ll be the bad guy.”


	15. A Haircut

Nyma was somehow able to get both the horse and her to the tower in one piece, and in relatively quick timing. Jumping out of the saddle, her feet had barely hit the ground before she was yelling up at the tower, “Allura, let down your hair!”

A few seconds later the long white hair spilled out from the window and Nyma didn’t hesitate in climbing up it.

She about tumbled in through the window in her hurry to get inside and just see that Allura was okay. “Oh thank god you’re okay I was so worried-“

Nyma was cut off when she saw Allura though. Allura had a gag around her mouth and she had been tied up as well.

“Allura-“ was all Nyma managed to get out before she felt a piercing pain shoot through her lower abdomen. 

She fell to her knees, clutching her side as she felt blood seep onto her clothes and onto her hand, coating them both in the warm sticky substance. Nyma looked over her shoulder to see the witch standing behind her with a smirk on her face and a bloodied dagger in her hand.

“Whoops,” she said with a shrug as she kicked Nyma onto the floor.

Nyma curled up into herself as she tried to fight through the pain, everything just hurt so much and her eyes were tearing up from the pain. Not to mention that she was beginning to see black spots crop up into her vision.

“Now look what you did Allura,” the witch said as she got closer to Allura. Nyma wanted nothing more than to reach out and drag that woman to the floor with her but her brain was shutting down as it tried to figure out what to do with itself.

Allura was struggling to say something against the gag but all that was coming out were muffled noises.

“But don’t worry,” the witch said as she took a piece of her dress and cleaned off the dagger, “Our secret will die with her, and we’ll be safe again. Never to be seen again.”

The little lizard bite at the edge of the witch’s dress in some futile attempt to slow her down. The witch merely looked at the lizard like it was a piece of dust and threw the knife in her hand at it.

The lizard moved out of the way just in time and the knife only stuck itself into the wooden floor.

The witch untied one end of the rope and began trying to drag Allura over to what appeared to be a trapdoor, Nyma couldn’t really tell anymore. Her vision was starting to get all fuzzy around the edges.

“Oh Allura just give up already,” the witch said as she gave one particular hard tug of the rope. “Stop fighting me!”

In her struggle Allura had managed to move the gag away from her mouth. “No,” she spit out as tugged harder at the rope, “I won’t stop fighting you for as long as I breath. I’m not letting you chain me back up again without a fight.”

“Really Allura we don’t have time for this!” 

“Wait,” Allura said as her gaze settled on Nyma. “If you let me heal Nyma,” Allura said as she chose her words slowly, “I’ll go without a fight.”

“Wha-Allura no-“ Nyma began, trying to stop Allura from getting herself locked back up just for her sake, but she was cut off by a sharp wave of pain.

“I swear I won’t run, and I won’t fight you. We can be together, just like you want. But you have to let me heal him,” Allura said, determination in her tone as Nyma felt her heart sink. No, no way should Allura being doing this! She should just leave Nyma for dead, which Nyma already pretty much was, and get out of here and never look back. Why was she doing this?

“Fine,” the witch said before walking over to where Nyma was curled up on the ground and grabbing her wrist.

Nyma could feel the witch’s nails as the dug into her wrist. She was dragged over to a pillar and was tied to it with a piece of rope.

“In case you get any funny ideas,” the witch hissed into her ear before drawing back and going over to Allura and untying her.

“Nyma,” Allura said as she rushed over to her. Falling on her knees next to Nyma as she went to cradle Nyma’s head. “I’m so sorry you got involved in this.”

“Don’t cry princess,” Nyma said as she did her best to put a smile on her face. “I chose to get involved with you, this isn’t your fault.”

“E-everything’s going to be okay,” Allura said, her voice wobbling as she took one of Nyma’s hands into her own. “I promise, you just need to breath-“

“Allura-“

“Come Nyma just breath for me-“

“Allura I can’t let you do this, you can’t be trapped with that-“ Nyma began before she was cut off by another strike of pain.

“I don’t care,” Allura said with that determination back in her voice that would’ve made Nyma so much more happier if they just weren’t here. “I can’t let you die.”

Nyma knew that Allura was about to start singing her song and she knew she couldn’t let this happen. She couldn’t let Allura save her life before she let hers slip through her fingers. If she was going to die here she was going to make sure that witch died as well.

“Allura, wait,” Nyma said as her hand found what it was looking for. Wrapping her hand around the cool metal of the dagger she felt Allura’s hands go to her face. Now she had to follow through with her plan.

Nyma pulled the dagger out from the wood and raised it up into one clean arch that cut through Allura’s hair in one swift move.

“NO!” the witch screeched as Nyma watched as Allura’s white hair rapidly turned to brown.

“No, no, no,” the witch cried as she tried to grasp at the quickly changing white hair. She glared up at Nyma with fire in her eyes as she began to age before their eyes. “What have you done!” the witch screamed as her hair turned to white and her skin began to wrinkle.

“You!” the witch growled, pointing a finger at Nyma before stomping over to her. Allura stood up, standing between Nyma and the witch before storming over to the witch and pushing her hard.

The witch stumbled backwards and…some odd orange haired man (where the heck had he come from or was Nyma just really out of it from the blood loss?) tugged out some of the fallen hair. The witch got her feet tangled up in the hair and tumbled out the window. Her screams filling the air until there was a loud thump and then silence.

“Hold on Nyma,” Allura said, running back to her side with tears in her eyes.

“I’m not sure how much longer I can,” Nyma said before she was cut off by a hacking cough that wracked her body. She could feel herself coughing blood into her hand.

“No, no, no, no,” Allura said as her hands ran themselves over Nyma’s face. “Please, you have to stay with me Nyma.”

Nyma was beginning to fade out of consciousness but she could faintly hear Allura singing that song of hers. She could guess by Allura’s fresh wave of sobs that it wasn’t working.

“Allura,” Nyma managed to say, her eyes still shut and her body feeling like it was floating, “Y-you were my new dream.”

She heard a chocked sob come from Allura. Nyma heard four more words before she breathed her last. “And you were mine.”

/////

A new sob wracked Allura’s body as she clutched onto the front of Nyma’s shirt. She had stopped breathing and Allura couldn’t hear her heartbeat even with her head pressed against Nyma’s chest.

“No, no, no, no,” she muttered under her breath as she tried to think of something, anything that could fix this! Without even really thinking about it she began to finishing singing her song.

“Heal what has been hurt. Change the fate’s design. Save what has been lost. Bring back what once was mine,” she took in a deep breath before singing out the final line, “What once was mine.”

Allura choked back a sob as she pressed her eyes shup. There was nothing she could do.

Suddenly a bright light pressed against her eyelids causing Allura to open them. She gasped when she saw what the light was coming from. Nyma’s body was being covering a goldish glow as lines of gold swirled over her body, wrapping around her arms and even crawling up her face. Could-could Allura’s song still have worked without her hair? How was this possible?

A glowing white flower seemed to grow up from Nyma’s chest before it disappeared into the air and with it, the line of gold. Allura held her breath as Nyma took one of her own.

“Did I ever tell you I have a thing for short hair?” Nyma asked and Allura wasn’t sure whether to laugh, cry or roll her eyes at Nyma because of course that would be the first thing she said after she had just come back to life. Allura chose to kiss her instead.

Wrapping her arms around Nyma’s neck, Allura leaned forward and pressed her lips against Nyma’s. She smiled into the kiss as Nyma kissed back, her thumb softly brushing over Allura’s cheek. Allura pulled back and when she did she saw the goofy smile on Nyma’s face and felt her face heat up.

“Oh thank heavens you’re okay,” Allura said, burrowing her face into Nyma’s shoulder as she felt Nyma’s arms wrap around her waist.

“I guess I’m harder to kill than I thought,” Nyma said with a chuckle before she pulled back and stared at something behind them. “Okay I thought I was crazy with blood loss but apparently you’re really here.”

“What are you talking about?” Allura asked as she looked over her shoulder to see a ginger haired man with a mustache standing behind them. He seemed to be dressed up in something that looked like a palace guard uniform. “Wh-who are you?”

“I’m Coran,” the man said with a bow before looking up at them with a grin. “I believe you both already know me.”

“Wait, you were the lizard?!” Nyma cried as she looked like her head was spinning on her shoulders.

“Chameleon,” Allura and Coran corrected both at the same time.

“That blasted witch cursed me when we took her flower. I managed to track her down, it took years let me tell you I couldn’t walk very fast, and imagine my surprise when I realized that she had stolen the princess! I vowed to stay by Allura’s side until she was found or able to escape. I mean, I tried to convince her to run away so many times but the girl was so stubborn-“

“Coran,” Allura said, cutting him off because now was not the time to debate over her blind trust of the witch, plus she had some odd feeling like this was going to turn into some long story telling session if she didn’t stop him. “Thank you for staying with me, you-you really helped me get through some of the harder days of being trapped up here.”

“No problem my dear,” Coran said before clapping his hands together. “I think we best start heading back to the castle so we can get there before it’s too dark. I’m sure your parents are going to be ecstatic to see you safe.”

“My parents,” she said in a hushed voice as she stood up. She couldn’t believe she was going to meet them. To be able to feel what it was like to have actual parents that loved her.

She held her hand out to Nyma and helped her up, keeping their hands still intertwined as she turned to Coran with a wide grin. “Take me home Coran.”


	16. The End

“I’m not so sure about this,” Nyma said as she held onto Allura’s sleeve as she stared up at the castle in front of them. Coran had run ahead to let the guards know what was going on and fetch the king and queen, leaving the two to wait outside until the guards came to get them.

“What do you mean?” Allura asked, turning to Nyma with those big questioning eyes. 

“It’s just, uh, well you know the guards don’t really like me-“

“Well too bad, I like you so they’re just going to have to deal with it,” Allura said with a shrug as Nyma felt her face heat up at those words. “I’m not going to let them lock you up Nyma, you kind of saved me so I think you should be pardoned for your crimes.”

“Awww thanks Allura-wait what do you mean I kind of saved you?” Nyma asked with a pout. “I totally helped you out in saving yourself. It was a group effort.”

“Whatever helps you sleep at night,” Allura said as she pressed a kiss to Nyma’s cheek. Allura already knew how to shut her up and it hadn’t even been close to twenty four hours yet since their….whatever this was started.

A single guard was walking towards them and Nyma wasn’t sure whether she was realized or even more concerned when she saw that it was Keith.

“Follow me princess,” Keith said, his eyes sliding over Allura over to Nyma, “And companion.”

“So you’re not going to lock me up?” Nyma asked as she followed cautiously after Allura and Keith.

Keith didn’t even look back at her but he shrugged. “You did find the lost princess so I suppose your crimes are going to end up being overlooked. The justice system at its finest.”  
“Hardy har har,” Nyma said as Keith led them into a large room. Like it was gigantic, it had to be bigger than Ms. Curtis’s house! The room was particularly bare save for the two thrones that sat up on a platform.

A different pair of doors was being opened in stepped two people that Nyma instantly recognized as King Alfor and Queen Solarra. She took a few steps back from Allura while Allura began to walk towards her parents, looking about ready to just burst out running. But somehow she managed to keep it all in.

Nyma watched with a small smile as she watched Allura and her parent’s talk to each other before the two wrapped Allura up in a big hug, tears seemed to be falling from all three parties. Nyma knew when she wasn’t need and when something was a private moment so she went to leave only to be called out by the queen.

“You helped bring our daughter back to us,” the queen said, tears streaming down her face as she waved Nyma over to them. “Thank you.”

Nyma walked over to the three and stood about a foot away from them awkwardly. “It was nothing your highness.”

“Oh Nyma, stop acting so awkward,” Allura said as she reached out and pulled Nyma down into their hug pile.

/////

Allura was still overwhelmed from everything that had happened. Seeing her parents again and catching up after so many years of being apart had been lovely, but also absolutely exhausting.

She had been shown to a room that definitely looked like it was fit for a princess, though Allura did feel a bit out of place in it with it’s clean and bare walls and fancy golden furniture. They big fluffy bed was great though, she thought as she flopped down onto it.

Painted on the ceiling was the kingdom’s symbol again and it reminded her of the handkerchief Nyma had given. She reached down and pulled it out of her dress, surprised it had still been safely tucked away. She unfolded it to reveal the ticket Nyma had given her and the unspoken promise Nyma had given her of traveling with her.

She couldn’t help but smile when she thought about Nyma. She knew the other girl had ended up becoming about as overwhelmed as Allura had been and had eventually slipped out of the castle after dinner. Catching Allura before she had left and asking her if she could meet her by the fountain in town tomorrow morning. Allura had agreed and Nyma had run off somewhere.

A lot was going on in Allura’s head though, she knew that her parents seemed to expect her to stay with them in Altea. Allura on the other hand wanted out, she needed to get out and just explore and being able to feel that taste of freedom she had gotten. She couldn’t go back to being confined until she was ready to stay in one place again. The thought of staying in the castle made her skin itch.

She needed to talk with her parents. She could only hope they would let her out of their sight again.

/////

Nyma hadn’t been sitting on the fountain too long when she noticed Allura walking over to her. Oh crap she wasn’t ready for this. What was she going to say? Oh hey so I realize your kinda princess now with princess duties and most definitely out of my league but would you maybe still want to travel around with me?

Yeah Nyma didn’t think that sounded very good.

“Nyma,” Allura said as she came to a stop in front of her. “I know you probably called me here with something in mind but listen I need to ask you something really important.”

“Uh, okay sure, shoot away princess,” Nyma said almost laughing at how the nickname she had given Allura so early on had been so true in the end.

“I was wondering if you’re still serious about traveling with me,” Allura said, staring up at Nyma, her hands clutched at her side like she was worried that Nyma would actually say no.

“Wha-of course princess that was, uh, actually why I wanted to talk to you to, uh, make sure you still wanted to travel with, uh, me,” Nyma said as she stumbled over her words in surprise. How the heck did Allura manage to convince the king and queen let her go out adventuring….unless- “Did your parents agree to let you travel with me?”

“Hmmm, oh yeah. I talked about it with them this morning,” Allura said as she hopped from foot to foot. “I told them that after being trapped up my whole life I needed time to get out into the world and just feel free. I promised them I would come and visit them often though. Also, I’m pretty sure they’re going to end up sending Coran to watch the two of us.”

“Just when I thought it would just be the two of us,” Nyma said as she pretended to pout. Allura didn’t buy it.

“Oh come now, Coran’s not that bad.”

“Yeah, yeah, I know,” Nyma said as she took Allura’s hand in her own. “So are you ready?”

A wide smile crossed Allura’s face as she squeezed Nyma’s hand. “As ready as I’ll ever be.”

/////

“Oh hey there’s something I forgot to tell you,” Allura said as she looked away from the streaking landscape of the train window and over to Nyma.

“Hmmm, what’s that?” Nyma asked as she continued to place different things on top of a snoring Coran’s head.

“I talked to my father about Ms. Curtis and all the other orphanages. I got him to agree to pass new legislation that will provided more than adequate funding for all orphanages in the kingdom’s reaches.”

“Wha-tha-that’s great Allura,” Nyma said as a wide smile crossed her face. Their first stop was actually Nyma’s old hometown so Allura could finally meet this Ms. Curtis lady and Nyma could visit her family. 

“Oh and I also convinced my parents that I should sell my crown and give the profits to Ms. Curtis as a thank you for raising such a nice woman as yourself.”

“…..wait what?!”

**Author's Note:**

> I should have the second chapter up tomorrow as long as I'm able to find time to edit it before work. Also, this was inspired by some lovely art by jays-art, you can find it here: https://jays-art.tumblr.com/post/164809725732/day-28-of-vld-wlw-month-fairy-tale-au-tangled#notes


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